MADISON, Wis. – Just when the Edgedome crowd thought the Eagles would pull away from a resilient Dominican team Wedensday night in the second half, the Stars would fight their way back and climb to within striking distance. The Eagles led by as many as 13 in the second half and closed off a late Stars run to win 64-56 for their third-straight win.
The Eagles led 28-27 at the break but used an 11-2 run to open the second half. Trevor Neale scored six of his game-high 14 points during that stretch and the Eagles suddenly found themselves up by double digits. No team led by more than four points in all of the first half.
Stars' guard Quinn Pokora put a damper on that run with one of his two three-pointers on the night with 13:05 left to pull within seven at 39-32. Derek Braucht would then hit a layup to go up by nine and the Eagles would maintain that large of a lead until Tim Robertson scored on back-to-back possessions to bring the Stars within six at 50-44 with 6:09 left.
Eagles' point guard Dylan Rusch then hit his first triple of the night in four attempts on the next possession to put the Eagles back up nine, but Ryan Modiest was there for the answer with a three to bring it back to within six. Rusch would hit his second triple just over a minute later but the Stars responded with another, as Rich Bodee drilled a deep ball to make it 58-52 Eagles with 3:09 left.
After an Emilio Lopez jumper, Tim Robertson hit two free throws to make it 60-54 Eagles with 1:57 left. That would be the closest the Stars would get, as the Stars would miss on the front end of a one-and-one with 1:22 left and Dylan Rusch hit four-of-four free throws over the last 33 seconds of play.
Edgewood College dominated down low in spurts of the game and outscored the Stars 34-12 in the paint. Neale's 14 points was his third-highest total of this season, while Rusch finished with 12 points on 3-of-10 shooting. Four other Eagles in Jake Heuer, Lopez, Braucht and Joe Klocek finished with exactly seven points. Braucht also snagged a career-high nine boards.
Pokora led the scoring effort with 13 points for the Stars while Robertson (12) and Modiest (11) also reached double figures. The Stars shot 38.5 percent (20-of-52) on the night and hit 10 three-pointers on 23 attempts (43.5%).
With the win Edgewood College still remains within striking distance from the top of the NACC, as only Aurora (8-2 in the NACC), Lakeland (6-2) and Benedictine (6-2) are ahead the Eagles. The Eagles will be off until Saturday, Jan. 10, when they will travel to Concordia Chicago for a 4:15 pm game in Geiseman Gymnasium.
