ST. DAVIDS, Pa. – Eastern University Men's Basketball used a 17-to-2 run to start the second half to build a big lead and held on to beat the Lebanon Valley College Dutchmen,81-70.
Draig Cooley finished with a. 27-point double-double to pace the Eagles as they advanced to Friday's MAC Commonwealth Semifinal against Messiah University.
Eastern (20-4) led 9-2 early, but the ninth-seeded Dutchmen hung around. The Eagles never trailed in the game, but LVC tied the score at 37 on an Evan Smith 3-pointer with less than two minutes to play in the half. The Eagles missed their first five 3-pointers of the game, but
Kaeshawn Ward found the range late. The sophomore guard hit from the corner on a kick from Cooley at the one minute mark for a 40-37 lead. He then answered a pair of LVC free throws with a deep 3-pointer from the top off a screen from
Olutobi Akinbayo. Cooley picked off a long pass on the ensuing inbounds and saw his buzzer-beating attempt rim out.
Ward was 7-of-8 from the floor and led all scorers with 17 and the Eagles went to the locker room up 43-39. He finished the game with 23 points, eight rebounds, and three steals.
Eastern had a 13-to-3 edge in fast break points and shot 56 percent (19-of-34) before the intermission.
Cooley, who had X points at halftime, started post-break run with a put-back basket.
Sam Gallardo continued the run with three free throws. Cooley and
Jaron Fairweather each had six points in the run.
The Eastern lead reached twenty when Gallardo scored in transition from Fairweather with 12 minutes to play.
As happened in the meeting between the two sides a week ago, the Dutchmen rallied from the early burst. Today, however, the Eagles never let LVC inside eight points.
"We changed some things up defensively at half," Head Coach
Dan Pruessner said after the game. "That made a difference to start, but I think the biggest thing for us tonight was pushing tempo. We really stressed trying to get into offense early and take advantage of transition. Draig had a great night finishing around the rim and Kaeshawn was really good in the first half. When we go 2-for-whatever from three, that's usually a scary thing, but we got to the basket well and were solid on defense through the night."
"It is tough to beat a team three times," he continued. "Tucker and Jones are really tough, and their number three [Payton Lewis] has hit some really tough shots against us the last two games. We are glad to keep going."
William Blet was honored before the game for reaching 1000 career points in last Saturday's game at York.
The 20th win sets a new Division III high-water mark for the program. Eastern Men's Basketball won 17 games in 2008-'09 and also in 2019-'20. Eastern is 10-0 at the nest this year.
The Eagles will host Messiah University on Friday at 7:00 pm. The two sides split the season series. Hood will host Widener in the other semifinal. Hood slipped past Albright by three and Widener upset third-seeded Alvernia in Reading, 98-80. Messiah reached the semifinals with a 73-50 home win over Stevenson.
The two semifinal winners will meet Sunday for the MAC Commonwealth Championship and the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
