In 2005-2006, the Eastern University Men's Basketball team averaged over 80 points a game and almost never won on Monday nights. With a stellar defensive effort and some great contributions off the bench, the Eagles battled to a 55-51 win at Misericordia.

The host Cougars opened up a 9-2 run early in the game and were able to frustrate the Eagles into turnovers and missed shots. The Eagles had 15 first half turnovers and seemed unable to get any rhythm going early. After the original outburst, the visiting Eagles began to clamp down at the defensive end and slowly crawled back into the game and even briefly took the lead at 14-13 on an inside hoop from Matt Flanagan with eight minutes to go in the half.

The Cougars then ran off a 15-0 run to push their advantage to 28-14 with just over four minutes to play. Cougar standout Ryan Roa hit two three pointers in the run and it seemed that the hosts were going to run away with the game. Down 14, the Eastern coaching staff made the decision to go small, and inserted Brent Williams into the line-up with fellow 5-8 guard Chris Myers, and the two along with point guard David Volpe wrecked havoc for the closing four minutes of the half as their defensive intensity triggered a 9-0 run to cut the deficit to five at the half. Junior Forward Matt Malloy hit a big three pointer in transition and an inside hoop in the Eagles' closing run. Williams, who entered today's game with two points on the year, ended the scoring in the first half with a steal and a lay in.

The first half featured great intensity, but would win no style points on either side. The Eagles struggled to take care of the ball with 15 turnovers and shot 2-10 from behind the arc. The Cougars shot better from distance, but they could manage just 7-17 shooting from inside the arc. Misericordia also picked up several points in their 15-0 run on deflected balls that landed found their way to an open Misericordia player.

The second half started with the Eagles quickly chipping into the lead on a three point basket from Volpe, and tying the game on a Mike Johnson lay up. The lead went back and forth until Dominick DelPrete put the Cougars up 38-34 with just over 14 minutes to play. Williams scored the next four points on a pair of inside hoops on a couple nice passes from Lenny DiMaria. With the game tied at 38, points became more and more valuable in the closing moments.

After a Jason Reels free throw gave the Eagles a brief lead, Misericordia took a  40-39 lead on a run-out from Matt Hornak. Williams split a pair of free throws to level the game at 40. The Cougars pushed the ball up the floor to spark an 11-4 run. Hornak hit two inside baskets in the run and Roa connected on his third three of the game. Vinny Baumunk, who led all scorers with 15 connected on a lay-up with 5:23 on the clock to put the hosts up 51-44.

After an Eagle turnover gave the Cougars the ball back under their own basket, Malloy poked a ball free that Williams ran down and fired to Malloy under the basket for an open lay-up. The Eagles continued to contest shots and clean up the defensive boards. After DiMaria snared a rebound at the defensive end, he was able to get his feet set for a three pointer at the top of the key to bring the Eagles within two.Another solid defensive possession ended with the Cougars shooting a contested three pointer and Johnson snaring one of his game high 11 rebounds.

The Eagles ran a set for Johnson underneath, and after a strong head fake the junior forward powered home the lay up to tie the game at 51. The game stayed tied until with Volpe followed his own miss with just over two minutes on the clock. The game remained a one possession game until Williams snuck up on an unaware Cougar guard and pilfered his third steal of the night and raced to the the basket for his ninth point and a four point lead. The Eagles 11-0 run over the final five minutes lifted Eastern to it's second PAC win in three days.

Coach Nadelhoffer said of the game, "We are a different team this year, and we are just starting to find our identity. We know that we have to guard people, and we feel that we can bring defensive intensity whether we are shooting well or not. Brent answered the bell tonight and gave us a huge lift. We know that we will need different guys to step up on different nights, and we had several players make big plays down the stretch. I'm really proud of the way we finished the game."

The Eagles return to action Wednesday night when they take on Conference leading Neumann in the last game of the semester.

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