GLASSBORO, N.J. — Eastern University Men's Basketball held off a late charge from the hosts to earn a hard-fought 78-75 win at Rowan University. The Eagles made 18-of-22 from the foul line in the second half to secure the win.
After struggling from the line in the team's loss at Penn State Harrisburg on Sunday, it was tough for the Eagles to know whether getting into the bonus with nine minutes left in the second half was a good thing. Despite only making nine second-half field goals, the Eagles held on by making their first 13 foul shots of the second half.
Up nine at half, the Eagles held the lead and saw it reach 11 a couple times. The final time came on a
Shindon Thompson 3-pointer with 12 minutes left to go up 57-46. Thompson was part of an Eastern bench that outscored their Rowan counterparts 28-16 in the contest. Ten different Eastern players scored in the game and the Eastern reserves shot 10-for-16 from the floor and grabbed 18 rebounds.
Over the next four-and-a-half minutes, that 11-point lead disintegrated, and the raucus home crowd got involves. The Profs (1-1) made 6-of-7 from the floor while holding the Eagles to just a single field goal in a 15-to-4 run. Rowan tied the lead at 61, but despite having a pair of free throws and another possession with an offensive rebound, the hosts never went ahead.
Justin Ezeukwu hit a 3-pointer with 5:20 on the clock for a 64-61 lead. After the Profs split a pair of foul shots on the next possession,
Connor Fleet made two foul shots for a four-point lead. The Eastern lead grew to six on a
Michael Wallace lay-up from Fleet. It was the only basket of the second half for Wallace, who led all scorers with ten points in the first half.
After the teams traded baskets, Rowan eventually cut the deficit to two points with 2:49 on the clock. Fleet made two more free throws to answer, and
Dejuan Taylor made the first of two from the line for a five-point edge. The Eagles earned another stop and had a chance to burn more clock and stretch the lead when Fleet was called for an offensive foul.
Rowan scored inside, but
Mason Lewis made two more foul shots to restore the five-point edge with 1:14 on the clock. At this point the Eagles were 15-of-16 from the line in the second half.
The Profs got two shots from deep and made the second one to close the gap to 75-73 with one minute to play. The Eagles then got a pair of shots to stretch the lead but came away empty, which gave Rowan a chance to tie or take the lead. Out of a Rowan timeout, Fleet ripped a ball free and was found with 14 seconds on the clock. He made the first, but a miss on the second and a foul on the rebound left the door open.
Rowan's Liech Kong made two free throws to close the gap to 76-75 with 12 seconds left. When Ezeukwu split his two free throws, the Profs had a possession to tie or win. After Rowan missed a contested lay-up with two seconds left.
Josh Fadahunsi picked up his seventh rebound of the game. After missing his first, Eastern's senior post player made the second for a three-point edge. A desperation 3-pointer rimmed out at the buzzer.
The Eastern bench was the story of the first half. The Eagles shot 15-of-29 from the floor on the way to a 40-31 lead. Wallace made three field goals and four free throws to lead all scorers. Taylor had six points. Eastern had a 21-12 edge on the glass in the opening half.
With
Mason Lewis grabbing four of his team-high 10 rebounds on the offensive end, Eastern ended the game with a 42-35 edge on the glass. Taylor finished with a game-high 17 points. Ezeukwu had 13 and Fleet finished with 10. All five Rowan starters scored in double-figures, but the Profs made only 28-of-68 from the floor.
"Having been through a tough test on the road at Harrisburg helped us a ton," Head Coach
Dan Pruessner said after the game. "It was a pretty loud crowd and a tough environment and our guys kept their heads. With Kai out tonight it was huge to have those bench guys step up. Beegie [Gordon], Shin [
Shindon Thompson], and Trey [
Michael Wallace] all had big plus numbers and were ready to contribute."
The Eagles are at Muhlenberg on Saturday and will play their home-opener against Penn State Berks next Tuesday.
