ST. DAVID'S (Pa.) – The Delaware Valley University men's basketball team fell behind in the second half and could not claw back as host Eastern University held on for a 69-64 Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Freedom triumph.

The Eagles (17-4) improved to 8-2 in league play and remains tied atop the standings with Stevens Tech. and DeSales. FDU-Florham holds the fourth and final playoff spot at 5-5 by way of a 92-83 win over King's College (4-6) today. DelVal fell to 6-14 overall and 2-8 in the MAC Freedom, and is three games back of a playoff spot with four to play.

After 10 minutes of action, the Aggies held a 12-8 lead as Damian Washington connected on a pair of treys and Mike Cianciulli added a pair of buckets. Defensively, DelVal forced Eastern into nine turnovers to that point and had six more field goal attempts.

Over the next two minutes, Terence Johnson converted a layup and hit a tough step-back 3-pointer to give the Aggies their largest lead of the half, 17-9, with just over eight minutes left before the break.

Eastern used a 9-3 run to cut it to a two-point game with 4:29 on the clock. The team's traded baskets before Victory Pena worked the post and got a layup to knot the score at 22-22 with 2:32 remaining in the first.

Johnson finished the stanza with a game-high 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting and Mike Cianciulli had nine points to lead the Aggies to a 28-24 advantage at the intermission.

DelVal forced 12 turnovers in the first 20 minutes that resulted in 12 more field goal attempts, but Eastern was more efficient as it made 7-of-16 (43.8%) of its field goals compared to 11-of-28 (39.3%) for the Aggies. The Eagles got to the free-throw line 14 times and made nine shots while DelVal was 2-for-2 from the charity stripe.

Eastern got six straight points from Michael Bowlers to take its first lead of the game early in the second half, 30-28.

The Eagles grew their advantage to five moments later, but a Washington and-1 conversion got it back to a two-point game, 36-34.

Eastern used the next three minutes to put together an 8-0 run and open up a 10-point lead, 44-34, with 11:11 left in regulation.

The Aggies got to within seven after three straight layups by Jordan Tucker made it 49-42 with 8:08 on the clock. The Eagles quickly got their double-digit advantage back and maintained it until Cianciulli setup a corner three-ball by Washington to make it 58-51 with 3:10 left in the game.

Down the other end, William Blet hauled in an offensive rebound and scored, but Cianciulli countered with his second trey of the game to make it a six point game with 2:25 to play. DelVal traded another layup for a 3-pointer, this time from Francis Robles, and the deficit was down to five, 62-57, with under two minutes left.

The Aggies were forced to send Eastern to the free throw line to try and close the gap, but despite the Eagles going just 7-for-11 from the line, the offense could only find seven points and the home team came away with the 69-64 victory.

DelVal finished the game 25-for-64 (39.1%) from the field and 8-for-27 from deep while Eastern shot 22-for-41 (53.7%) from the field and 3-for-9 from 3-point land. The Aggie defense forced the Eagles into 17 turnovers, but converted them to only 16 points while Eastern converted 14 points of 12 DelVal turnovers.

Cianciulli scored a team-high 18 points with six rebounds and four assists, and Washington finished a double-double with 16 points and 13 boards. Johnson got the start and played 40 minutes while going 5-for-10 from the field for 11 points, and Robles came off the bench for a season-high 10 points including two big 3-pointers down the stretch.

Eastern placed four players in double figures including Blet who led the way with 13 points including a 5-for-7 effort at the line and seven rebounds. Pena scored 11 points and grabbed nine boards and Bowlers came off the bench for 11 points and seven rebounds.