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Reading, Pa. —In a heavyweight bout,
the challenger knows that he will
need to knock out the champion to
win. The Eastern University men's
basketball team started well against
defending champion and #1 seed
Alvernia College, but the host
Crusaders used a 16-0 run over the
last seven minutes of the first half
to advance to the finals of the PAC
tournament. With the loss, the
Eagles end the year at 16-11,
Things
started well enough for the Eagles,
as they responded to Alvernia's
opening basket with an inside bucket
from Jason Reels a three pointer
from Lenny DiMaria. The Eastern
defense contested Crusader shots,
and the Eagles limited the host's
second chance opportunities by
taking care of all but the longest
rebounds. Six minutes into the game,
Alvernia took an 8-7 lead, their
first of the game on a Terrence
Shawell three-point basket. Reels,
who led the Eagles with 14 points on
the evening, responded with another
inside basket, and David Volpe hit
his only three pointer of the game
to give the Eagles a 12-8 lead with
12 minutes to play in the half.
Over
the next two minutes, the Eagles
earned three defensive stops, but
were unable to stretch the lead as
they committed a pair of unforced
turnovers and missed a layup. Senior
guard Garrett Etzl converted a three
point play at the ten minute mark as
Alvernia bounced off the ropes and
began to deliver the convincing
blows of the game.
The
Crusaders took the lead for good at
16-14 with under eight minutes to
play on a short jumper from Ryan
Finger. Shawell then stretched the
Alvernia lead to four with a
thunderous dunk in transition.
Eastern looked to have shaken it off
as Matt Malloy responded immediately
with a nice inside basket to make it
18-16 with 7:03 to play in the half.
The
Eagles were unable to score a field
goal or earn a trip to the foul line
for the remainder of the half, and
the Crusaders exectued flawlessly on
the offensive end to put the game
out of reach at half.
The
Eagles traded baskets with the
Crusaders to start the second half,
but the experienced defending
champions committed just six second
half turnovers and were able to
solve any pressure defense the
Eastern team threw at them. Alvernia
routinely shot the ball with under
eight seconds left on the shot
clock, and they were able to hit on
60% of their field goal attempts for
the second half.
Malloy
joined Reels in double figures for
the Eagles with 12 points, but every
time it looked as though the Eagles
were going to make a run to close
within twelve, a shot would rim out
and the hosts would execute at the
other end. The Eagles committed just
four second half turnovers, but
could not shoot well enough to close
the distance on the experienced
Crusaders. Shawell, who did not
start, led all scorers with 22
points, and was joined in double
figures by Etzl with 11, Matt King
with 13, and Tyrone Bradley with 10.
The
Eagles finished the season with a
16-11 mark and a trip to the PAC
Semi-finals. The sixteen wins equals
the high water mark for the program
set last season, and the trip to the
PAC Semifinals isj ust the second in
the program's history. Lenny DiMaria,
who scored his 1000th career point
early in the month, is the only
graduating senior on this year's
team.
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