CHESTER, Pa.– Eastern University Men's Basketball made several late runs, but the Eagles were never able to grab the lead and the host Widener University Pride (4-13, 2-1) held on for an 82-74 win in a rematch of last year's MAC Commonwealth Championship game.
The Eagles, who trailed by as many as 14 points in the first half, pulled to within a single point at 60-59 on an
Olise Onyeka three-point play with 5:33 on the clock, and the lead was still one after
Nick Mate hit a pair of free throws to answer two Widener free throws at the other end, but Widener guard Luke Mazur hit a 3-pointer and converted a lay-up after an Eastern turnover to spark a 10-to-2 run that turned out to be the difference in the game.
Every Eastern basket was answered by foul shots at the other end, and the Pride held on for the win.
The Eagles shot 47 percent from the floor in the second half, but 13 Eastern turnovers and 50 percent shooting from the hosts with 28 foul shots rendered the solid shooting numbers less than consequential.
As they did in each of the games with Widener last year, the Eagles fell behind early. They went down 28-14 with six minutes to play in the frame and closed the half with a little surge to go to the locker room down 32-27. The frustration of the game was obvious as the Eagles had five possessions before the break to close the gap to a single possession and missed three shots and had two turnovers.
Connor Fleet hit a pair of 3-pointers off the bench to lead all the Eastern scorers with six points in the first. The upside for the Eagles was that as frustrating as the half was, they were still within striking distance.
Arkese Claiborne scored the first basket of the second half, but the Pride answered with a six-point run to stretch the Widener lead back to nine. Pride forward Matt Daulerio hit a 3-pointer with 15 minutes left to stretch the lead to 43-32. Daulerio, a fifth-year senior, led all scorers with 21 points. He also grabbed 12 rebounds and blocked five shots.
The Pride lead was eight when
DaRon Sherman put up the highlight of the day with a powerful dunk over the 6'9 Daulerio. After a Widener free throw as the other end, Olise Oyeka scored in traffic and then
Davin Hernandez hit a deep 3-pointer to pull to within a basket at 58-56 with six minutes to play.
Zubair Lee had 17 points and eight rebounds, and Onyeka had 14 points and six rebounds. The Eastern bench contributed 23 points in the loss.
Coming into the game, the Eagles were shooting nearly 30 foul shots per game and had taken more shots from the line than their opponent in each of their first 13 games. The Eagles attacked the rim throughout, but they took only seven foul shots in the first half and 15 in the second. The Pride took 30 foul shots in the game., and they converted on 21.
The Pride entered the evening with disappointing out of conference record against an elite schedule. With the win this evening, they improve to 2-1 in the league with their only loss coming against a very good Hood team a week ago.
The Eagles will need to regroup quickly as they will take on a very good Hood College team on Saturday. The Blazers took a tough road loss at Albright this evening. York is the only team without a loss in the league.
