RADNOR, Pa.– In a game with historic significance, Eastern University Men's basketball turned in a strong second-half of defense to pull away to an 82-74 win over the host Cabrini University Cavaliers. The contest is the last in a rivalry dating back to the 1980's. After trailing 45-39 at half, the Eagles held the Cavaliers to 8-of 26 shooting for the first 19 minutes of the second half.
Zubair Lee scored 22 points, grabbed nine rebounds, and blocked five shots and
Kaeshawn Ward had 20 points and seven rebounds to pace the Eastern attack.
"The game definitely had a weird vibe to it," Head Coach
Dan Pruessner said after the game. "There was a lot of the emotion that comes with the rivalry, but it was also a little somber. Just knowing this is the last one just felt strange. We turned up the defense and had a stretch where we hit some shots to pull away, but they are a good team. They hit 3-pointers, took care of the ball, and have a plan defensively."
The Cavaliers went 7-of-14 from deep in the first half, but they did not make their second 3-pointer of the second half until the final 11 seconds. The Eagles went 2-of-10 from deep in the first half and took only two long-distance efforts in the second half.
Jaron Fairweather gave the Eagles the breathing room they needed when he hit from deep with 2:40 on the clock to put the Eagles up 74-66. Fairweather scored 12 of his 17 points after the intermission. In the second half, he was 4-of-5 from the floor and had eight rebounds.
Cabrini ended the first half on an 11-to-2 run and had all the momentum going into the break. Eastern trailed by six despite shooting 54 percent (18-of-33) from the floor. The Cavaliers made 8-of-9 from the foul line and seemed to bury every good look they got from distance. Lee's presence in the lane was reason for the Cavaliers to pursue shooting from outside. The sophomore forward blocked three shots in the opening five minutes and turned several other shots in the paint into high risk efforts.
The second half started with the Eagles defending and going to the basket. Lee hit a pair from the line and Ward got into the land to cut the Cabrini lead to 45-43. The Eagles tied the game at 53-53 on an inside basket from
Kevin Reeves and took the lead for good on a put-back basket from Ward. Reeves finished with 11 points on 4-of-4 shooting and three made free throws. The lead grew to six points, but the Cavaliers closed the gap to a single point on Donoven Mack's third 3-pointer of the game. Mack led all scorers with 23 points.
Fairweather's big 3-pointer came right in the middle of a 13-to-1 run that broke open the game. Including the two 3-point baskets in the final 11 seconds, the Cavaliers were 10-of-30 from the floor in the second half. The Eagles went 14-of-29 with nine offensive rebounds. The Eagles had a 31-to-11 edge on the glass in the second half.
The win is the fifth in a row in a series that has been remarkably even over the past 20 years. For the Early days of the rivalry, the Cavaliers owned everything. In the time the two schools were in the NCAA, the Cavaliers lost just once through the regular season of 2003-'04. The two regular season games that year were very close, and the Eagles final broke through with a 75-71 win in the opening round of the PAC Playoffs. That was and will be the only time the two programs met in a post-season match-up. Including that game and tonight's match-up, both teams have 11 wins in the last 22 games in the series. Cabrini has a 1775-1763 edge in total points, but the Eagles end the series holding the trophy for the last five games.
"Tonight has a lot of elements that made it difficult," Pruessner continued. "The rivalry thing is real and it impacts the game, and this being the last one adds a whole extra layer on top. I am hoping that moving through this we will execute better going forward."
The Eagles welcome another old rival to town on Saturday when they face former MAC Freedom and Pennsylvania Athletic Conference foe Misericordia in a non-league game. The two teams were league rivals from 1992-through 2020 but have not played since eastern joined the MAC Commonwealth in 2021. The two programs split their last 40 games 20-20.
