DOYLESTOWN (PA) – Eastern University placed six scorers in double digits as the last-place Eagles went on the road and shocked defending Freedom Conference champion Delaware Valley College 87-78.

The loss dropped the Aggies to 6-4 in conference play (11-10 overall) and placed them in a four-way tie with FDU-Florham, Manhattanville College and Misericordia University for second place. All four are one-game back of frontrunner DeSales University. Four games remain and the top four teams qualify for the Freedom tournament. 

The Eagles (8-13, 2-8), who snapped a seven-game conference losing streak, came out hot as they connected on their first six shots, including four 3-pointers, to open up a 16-9 lead just over five minutes into the contest.  After a Zach Sly layup for Delaware Valley, Eastern strung together a 5-0 run to increase its lead to 10.  The Eagles continued to hit their shots and built the lead to as many as 15, 40-25, with 4:47 left in the half.

From there, the Aggies woke up and closed out the half with a 16-2 run behind 11 points from Francis Arnold.  Arnold started the run with a mid-range jumper and Jay Donovan followed with a deep three.  After Malcolm Garrison made one of two free throws for the Eagles, Arnold drove the lane and converted a three-point play the old fashioned way.  Chris Moran pitched in with a layup and Arnold hit another deep three before Shaquan Turk went one for two from the line at the other end.  In the waning seconds of the half, Arnold hit his second trey to give him 20 points in the stanza and pull Delaware Valley all the way back to within one at 42-41.  

A Moran layup opened the scoring in the second half and gave the Aggies their first lead of the game.  Jordan Diggs then hit two from the free throw line for Eastern, but Sly responded with back-to-back layups for Delaware Valley's largest lead of the game at 47-44 with 16:43 left in regulation. 

The lead was short-lived as the Eagles went on a 14-4 run that was capped by a Garrison 3-pointer with 10:05 on the clock, to go up seven, 58-51. A continued balanced scoring attack from Eastern helped to extend the lead to 76-62 with 4:41 to play.  Delaware Valley put together one last run as a layup from Moran, two free throws from Sly and a huge Nick Sullivan bomb from the top of the key cut the lead down to five, 76-71, with just under three minutes to play.  The Eagles then missed a 3-pointer at the other end, but Diggs came up with the big offensive board to keep possession. Diggs then hit a jumper 17 seconds later and Eastern hit its free throws down the stretch for the victory.

Eastern shot 51.9 percent (28-for-54) from the field, including a 7-for-15 effort from beyond the arc. The Eagles also held a 43034 advantage on the boards. Diggs led the balanced attack with 18 points and he was joined in double figures by Garrison (15), Turk (12), Anthony Parenti (11), Caleb Knudsen and Jimmie Wells (10).

Arnold led all scorers with 28 points and he also added six rebounds, five assists and three steals. Moran had a double-double with 23 points and 12 rebounds while Sly added 13 points in the loss.