ST DAVIDS, Pa. — Eastern University Men's Basketball (2-3) was within a single possession for most of the game, but the visiting Johns Hopkins University Blue Jays (3-1) made their free throws down the stretch to pull away to a 77-69 win. Olise Onyeka and DaRon Sherman each scored 15 points to lead the Eagles in the loss.

Twice in the 71 seconds, the Eagles scored to pull to within two points. Each time, the Blue Jays had an answer. After Anthony Williams scored a tough basket inside, Hopkins guard Charlie Jackson scored at the very end of the shot clock to put Hopkins up 71-67. Sherman raced to the other end for a quick score, but with only four seconds between the shot clock and the game clock, the Eagles had to foul.

The guests made all six of their foul shots in the final 28 seconds to secure the win. Including 17-of-20 in the second half, Johns Hopkins made 21-of-24 from the foul line in the game.

The Eagles, on the other hand, made 14-of-26 from the floor in the second half, but they only took 13 foul shots and made just six.

Before the final seconds, Hopkins had the biggest lead of the game at 16-10 with 12 minutes left in the first half. The Eagles tied the game at 16 on a nifty finish from DaRon Sherman and a pair of tough inside hoops from Dejuan Taylor.

The only time a team led for more than a possession over the final eight minutes came when Hopkins hit a 3-pointer late to go to the locker room with a 36-32 lead.

The Blue Jays started the second half on a 4-to-2 run to stretch the lead to six points with 18 minutes to play. Eastern responded with a quick 5-to-0 run on a three-point play from Connor Fleet and a pair of free throws from Onyeka.

While the Blue Jays led more, the difference did not stretch past four points until the final seconds. Sherman scored 12 of his 15 points after halftime.

"Thirty-four seconds is such a tough number," Head Coach Dan Pruessner said after the game. "A little more time and we could just hold together and get a stop, but four seconds is not a lot of time. In that situation we need them to miss, and they just did not. We did a lot of things right today, so we will build on this."

Eastern will face another tough Centennial Conference team when they travel to Franklin & Marshall on Tuesday. The Eagles last played F & M in 1996.