ST. DAVIDS, Pa.– Eastern University Men's Basketball held off a late rally from the visiting Alvernia University Golden Wolves to earn an important 78-74 win. Jaron Fairweather scored 19 points and Draig Cooley recorded a career-best 16 rebounds as the Eagles closed the gap with the league-leading Golden Wolves to just a game.

The Eagles (14-6, 7-4) fell behind 24-16 when Alvernia guard Nigel Cooke converted a 3-point play with nine and a half minutes to play int he first half. A 3-pointer from Nick Mate sparked a 20-to-5 Eastern run. The Eagles were 6-of-8 from the floor and made all six of their would shots in the six-minute burst.  Alvernia tied the game twice in the second half, but never led the rest of the way.

The run ended on a good finish from Kaeshawn Ward on a pass from Cooley in transition, but it also included a pair of strong inside hoops from Brian Jackson. Head Coach Dan Pruessner was quick to point out the importance of the Eagles bench and the work of the first year post player in particular.

"I got into B-Jack in the first timeout," Pruessner said. "We have seen him dominate in close in practice and know that he can do that. He responded really well."

Jackson scored 10 points on only six field goal attempts. He put back his only miss of the day. The Eastern reserves outscored their counterparts from Alvernia by a 27-13 margin.

Alvernia  (15-6, 9-4) pulled to within two at 36-34 and had the ball with a chance to tie. Fairweather grabbed a defensive rebound and attacked the rim. He drew a foul and converted a pair of free throws. He then made another play with a steal and dunk for a six-point half-time lead.

For the game, Fairweather scored his 19 points on only five shot attempts.  He had nine points, four rebounds, four assists, three steals, and drew three fouls in the first 20 minutes.

"I think we got back to who we are," Head Coach Dan Pruessner said after the game. "You saw Boog [Fairweather] assert himself at the defensive end of the floor and create chances in transition. Our wings did a really good job rebounding and that allowed us to be really fast."

The Eastern lead grew to 46-36 early in the second half, but the visitors showed their offensive mettle in response. Malik Green, who finished with a game-high 30, hit a deep 3-pointer and finished a three-point play pull the visitors to within four points.

Alvernia extended pressured and the Eagles made them pay with a pair of highlight reel dunks from Zubair Lee. The first came off a perfectly timed alley-oop from Mate, and the second a pass from Cooley. Cooley finished with four assists and the team had 18 for the game. For the year, the Eagles are unbeaten (8-0) in games where they have more than 15 assists.

The Golden Wolves again bounced back and tied the game at 54. The two teams traded hoops before Cooley put away a transition basket from Fairweather. The Eagles then took advantage of an offensive rebound from Cooley as Sam Gallardo hit a 3-pointer from the right wing for a five-point edge. That lead grew to seven with eight minutes to play after Gallardo and Cooley answered a pair of free throws at the other end.

Neither team scored for two full minutes and the Eastern lead shrunk to four before Fairweather hit a 3-pointer from the right wing to bump the lead back to six with four and a half minutes left. Even with Alvernia extending their defense and Malik Green getting to the foul line, the Eagles made enough plays to hold on. Green scored 12 of his points in the final five minutes.

Lee finished with 13 points and seven rebounds, and Ward played through foul trouble to finish with 11 points. Robert Mullan was the only other Alvernia player in double figures. He had 17.

"We changed up the line-up a little," Pruessner said. "It is going to take us a little while to get used to playing with those groupings, but we were able to hold our own on the glass even with the smaller line-up. In a league that is really tightening up, that is a huge a win."

Eastern's big week will continue with a road test at Widener on Saturday. The Eagles rallied from a huge halftime deficit to beat the Pride in the first meeting of the year. Eastern and Widener are currently tied for second in the MAC Commonwealth standings.