Box Score MADISON, Wis. – Edgewood College men's basketball head coach Justin Meyer was ready to lay into his Eagles after a sloppy first half against Benedictine University left them in a hole. But he reconsidered after seeing their faces and decided encouragement was called for. Whatever he said, it seems to have had the desired effect, as the Eagles roared back for a 76-73 victory in their NACC opener on Saturday at the Edgedome.

Facing a 44-33 deficit after Benedictine's Tim McGinty scored 12 seconds into the half, Edgewood College (3-1, 1-0 NACC) started to rally. The Eagles' Joe Klocek scored six points in a 14-3 run to tie the game at 47-47. A short time later, the Eagles trailed 52-50 when Tal Diekvoss nailed a three-point shot off a kick out by Justin Williams to put Edgewood College back to front. After the Diekvoss shot and a layup by Dylan Heemstra, Emilio Lopez scored seven straight points for a 62-56 Eagles lead.

It appeared Edgewood College might continue to extend the lead until after Dylan Rusch gave the Eagles a 66-58 lead with 6:30 to play, but Benedictine University (1-4, 0-1 NACC) responded. Tyler Thurston and Michael Woolf hit back-to-back three-pointers to cut Edgewood College's lead to 66-64.

Lopez scored a short jumper  with 1:56 to play to give Edgewood College a 72-68, but McGinty scored a three-point play on the other end to bring Benedictine within one point at 72-71. A Williams free throw was followed by an illegal screen call on Benedictine's Tim Reamer, but Lopez failed to convert the front end of the bonus. However, Lopez made up for it with a steal and a pair of free throws with 32 seconds left. After Woolf scored for Benedictine, Rusch made 1-of-2 free throws for a 76-73 Eagles' lead with 23 seconds to go. Benedictine misfired twice, but recovered the rebound and called timeout with eight left. On the final play, the Edgewood College defense forced Benedictine out toward half court, and Woolf's pull-up three point shot at the buzzer was off the mark.

Lopez led Edgewood College with 15 of his 23 points scored in the second half three assists and four steals. Klocek tallied 15 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Williams came off the bench for 13 points on 6-for-11 shooting and seven rebounds. The Eagles shot 48.4 percent from the field and turned the ball over just nine times.

Benedictine received 23 points from McGinty and 12 from Woolf. Benedictine shot 56.7 percent in the first half, but were held to just 39.3 percent in the second half.

Edgewood College is now on a three-game winning streak headed to their first road game of the season, a Tuesday date at Concordia University Wisconsin in Mequon.  The Eagles return home on Thursday to play MSOE at the Edgedome.