ST. DAVIDS, Pa. – Eastern University Men's Basketball held off a late push from the visiting Alvernia University Golden Wolves to claim an important 88-81 MAC Commonwealth win. Zubair Lee finished with 20 points and 16 rebounds and Kaeshawn Ward had 18 points and nine assists to help the Eagles (15-7, 7-4) complete the season sweep of Alvernia.

"Throughout the week we talked about it a good bit," Head Coach Dan Pruessner said of the significance of the game relative to the MAC Commonwealth standings. "Today, after shoot around, we kind of flipped it. We really talked about enjoying the moment and the opportunity to play together. We found good emotional energy and used that to build a lead and to respond when they came back at us."

The Eagles led 68-52 with 9:19 on the clock and seemed to be in control of the game. The Golden Wolves, who came into the game with a game lead on the Eagles in the standings, showed their quality with a furious run. Led by ten points from Robert Mullan and nine points from Jakob Kelly, Alvernia made 7-of-7 from the floor in a 20-to-7 run. 

Even with the guests making shots and the lead shrinking to three, Pruessner held his timeouts. 

"They were making shots, and we had a couple unproductive possessions," Pruessner said. "We looked out there and felt good about our guys. We knew the run was coming. We responded." 

After the two teams traded baskets around the four minute mark, the Golden Wolves earned a stop and had a chance to close the gap to one or tie the game with a 3-pointer. The guests got caught running through a screen and the Eagles took advantage of the possession with a good entry into Lee. He earned a trip to the line and converted both for a 79-74 lead. In his rookie season, Lee struggled from the line, the sophomore forward has more than addressed that deficiency in his second season. He has made more free throws (124) than anyone else in the league has attempted. York's Kai Cipalla is the only player in the league with more than 100 attempts. 

Alvernia shot 16 free throws through the opening 16 minutes of the second half, and they went inside to try to earn more to answer Lee's two makes. Kevin Reeves came up with a huge block of a Mullan driving lay-up. The Eagles ran clock and Ward connected on a step-back jumper for seven-point lead. 

After a timeout, Lee came up with a steal. Ward again ran the clock down, but his lay-up attempt did not draw iron. Reeves again came up with a big play. The senior from Chester grabbed an offensive rebound and shoveled a pass to Lee for a lay-up and a nine-point lead. The Eagles needed only one more basket and three more free throws to secure the win. Reeves scored off a Ward dish with 47 seconds left, and Nick Mate made a pair of free throws after Mullan made his third 3-pointer of the second half. 

"Reeves made some huge plays for us," Pruessner continued. "He and Eljay gave us 18 points and eight rebounds. Olise gave us quality minutes at that spot as well. I am not surprised to see Kae have the game he had. he had a really big game at Alvernia and it was not likely he was going to have two off shooting efforts in a row. He had a good balance of attacking for his own shot and creating for others. Nine assists and only one turnover is a big-time point guard game." 

The Eagles made 16-of-33 first half shots on the way to a 42-32 lead at the break. Eljay Morris and Nick Mate each went 2-for-2 from deep in the period. Morris came into the game 1-for-8 from deep for the year, but the senior from London looked very confident as he made 3-of-4 from deep and finished with 11 points. Alvernia went 1-for-7 from deep for the game. 


Closing out the half, the Eagles had two shots to push the advantage to 15, but a pair of 3-pointers rimmed out and the Golden Wolves got a put-back basket for the final points of the half. Ward led all scorers with 13 points at the break. 

Jaron Fairweather had 12 points, six rebounds, and four assists, and Arkese Claiborne was 2-for-2 from the floor. The Eagles had a 45-35 edge on the glass for the game. Mullan led Alvernia with 22 points. Alvernia shot 57.1 percent from the floor in the second half. 

The win moves the Eagles into a tie in the MAC Commonwealth standings with Alvernia. If the season were to end today, and it does not, Eastern's sweep of Alvernia would break the deadlock and Eastern would be the third seed. The two teams in St. Davids tonight both got some help when Albright earned a 68-61 win at York. The Spartans are now a game behind both Eastern and Alvernia with three games left. York plays Messiah on Saturday and closes the year with road tests at Widener and Hood. Alvernia travels to Widener this Saturday and will host Hood on Tuesday before ending the year with a home game against Stevenson. 

The Eagles host Hood on Saturday and will finish the year with road games at Albright and Messiah. With the sweep of Alvernia and a split with York, the Eagles would emerge as the top team from a three-way tie, and they have the first tie-breaker in the event of a two-way tie with Alvernia. Should Eastern and York sit in a two-way tie at the end of the year, York's win over Widener would likely stand as the first tiebreaker and would move the Spartans ahead of the Eagles. 

Eastern will host Hood at 3 PM this Saturday. The Blazers (17-4, 9-2) earned a 71-68 win when the two teams played in Frederick in January.