ST. DAVIDS, Pa.– Eastern University Men's Basketball came into tonight's home test against Albright on the heels of a tough loss at Widener on the weekend. The Eagles shot just 36 percent in the second half and made only a single field goal in the final five minutes and fell, 80-72.  Draig Cooley scored 19 points to lead the Eagles in the loss.

With he split against Widener, the Eagles (14-8, 7-6) had yet to sweep a league series. The Eagles won by 15 at Albright in early January, but the Eagles played from behind for much of the night. Eastern held a 42-41 lead early in the second half, but the Lions scored nine-straight  to build a 50-42 lead.

For the rest of the night, the Eagles kept pulling closer and falling just short. Zubair Lee pulled the eagles to within a point with a pair of free throws with four and half minutes to play, but the Lions found an answer bumped the lead back to 73-67 with three-straight productive possessions.

Lee scored on a putback to pull back to within four, and Jaron Fairweather stripped a ball to give the eagles a chance to close the gap further, but Kaeshawn Ward had a jump shot rim out and the Lions scored a second-chance basket at the other end for another six point lead and ultimately the game.

The Eagles went just 13-of-36 from the floor and 0-for-5 from behind the arc after intermission. Despite grabbing 11 offensive rebounds, Eastern managed only six second-chance points in the frame.

The Lions (8-14, 5-9) held a 39-37 halftime lead, but seemed to have more control than that. The Eagles forced just a single turnover and did not block a first-half shot as 11 different Albright players scored. Cooley had 13 points and six rebounds at half.

The Eagles finished with only 12 assists and eight steals. Ward had 14 and Fairweather had 10. For the Eagles, all 13 second-half baskets were in the paint and 12-of-13 were at the rim. Jairus Carroll had eight points and two steals off the bench.

Albright's Robert Magnum scored a game-high 23 on 8-of-9 shooting.


"They came in playing very loose and made shots," Head Coach Dan Pruessner said after the game. "We did not do a great job guarding them or moving the ball on offense. We know every night in this league is a test, and we have to prepare for Messiah."

The Eagles will look to even the season-series and potentially secure a MAC Commonwealth Tournament spot when they play Messiah in Grantham on Saturday. That game is slated for a 6 pm tip.