MADISON, Wis. - Edgewood College raced out to a 10-2 lead to start the game Thursday night at MSOE but would be forced to play catch-up throughout the majority of the second half. The Eagles wouldn't grab the lead again until Dylan Rusch's and-one with 1:54 left to go ahead 63-62 but couldn't close things out on defense and ultimately fell 68-65.

After two MSOE free throws to put the Raiders up 64-63 after Rusch's and-one, Joe Klocek nailed two freebies on the other end to go up 65-64 with just 16 seconds left. MSOE's Greg Pigg then converted on an easy layup with 10 seconds left and the Eagles would turn it over on the other end to drop to 2-2 in the NACC and 2-5 overall. MSOE's Austin Stueck converted on both free throw attempts on the other end with just over a second left to close things out.

Dylan Heemstra helped the Eagles to perhaps their strongest opening of a game this season by scoring five of the Eagles' 10 points less than two and a half minutes in to go up 10-2. The Eagles allowed the Raiders to mount an equally impressive run immediately after a timeout and found themselves down 19-12 after a 17-2 MSOE run with 11:03 left in the first half.

The Eagles had to claw themselves back for the rest of the first half and trailed 34-28 heading to the locker room and the game of catch-up would continue throughout most of the second half. The Eagles trailed by as many as 12 as late as the 10:20 mark in the second half.

That's when sophomore Adam Freitag, a native of Kenosha, Wis., playing in just his fourth game in his Edgewood College career, got hot and allowed the Eagles to threaten. He hit three deep balls in a span of just over four minutes and his last one pulled the Eagles within three with just 5:34 remaining. Joe Klocek hit a clutch triple shortly after to tie things up at 60 just prior to Rusch's and-one that put the Eagles up 63-62.

MSOE shot an impressive 64.0 percent in the first half (16-of-25) but the Eagles wound up outshooting the Raiders 53.2 percent to 52.2 percent. The Eagles also had just nine turnovers, which marks the second time this year they had less than ten in a single game. Dylan Rusch led the Eagles with 13 points on 5-of-10 shooting while Joe Klocek also had double figures with 11.  Forwards Austin Stueck (18) and Connor Patterson (17) led MSOE in scoring on the night. 

The Eagles will look to get back on track in the NACC Saturday at 4:15 pm against Concordia Chicago in the Edgedome.