ST. DAVIDS, PA - The Messiah men's basketball fell to the Eastern Eagles in the MAC Commonwealth semifinals on Friday night, by a score of 84-73. Tyler Penley led Messiah with 16 points while Arkese Claiborne added 15 on the night.

First Half, Eastern Leads 48-34
Eastern came out hot in the first half using a 12-0 run to take a 14-5 lead early in the half. The Falcons would claw to within one at 16-15 but Eastern continued to pull away throughout the remainder of the half and took a 48-34 lead into halftime. Eastern shot 58% from the floor and connected on seven three pointers out of nine, good for 77% from beyond the arc. Jaron Fairweather led all scorers from Eastern with 16 points at the break, while Draig Cooley had 12 points. Arkese Claiborne led scorers from Messiah with 13. while Messiah as a team shot 50% from the field and 46% from three (6/13).

Eastern Wins 84-73
Eastern extended that lead from the half to 52-34 before the Falcons got on the board with a Will Young IV three in the second half. The Eagles lead stretched to as many as 18 with a 57-39 advantage with 16 minutes to go. However, Messiah came crawling back midway through the half, using a 19-7 run on the Eagles to cut the deficit to three at 67-64. Matt Glogowski had six points during the nine minute stretch of the game. The run prompted an Eastern timeout which stopped the momentum from the Falcons as the Eagles would go on an 8-0 run after the timeout which would eventually seal the game for the Eagles. 

Eastern moves on to the MAC Commonwealth Finals and will play Hood in the championship.

Stats
Penley led the Falcons with 16 points while Claiborne and Glogowski added 15 and 14. The Falcons shot 45% from the field and 37% from three. Messiah also out-rebounded Eastern by two 35-33. Fairweather was the leading scorer for Eastern, scoring 25 points while teammate Cooley added a double-double with 21 points and 10 rebounds. Eastern as a team shot 50% from the field and 58% from three.

End
The Falcons end the year with a record of 11-13 and an 8-8 conference mark.