MORRISTOWN, N.J. - The College of Saint Elizabeth's men's basketball team (7-14, 3-10 NEAC) was edged in a competitive game against Penn State Abington, 86-77 on Wednesday evening.

Jason Saldiveri once again lead the Eagles, finishing with 25 points, five rebounds and four assists.  Cam Tucker added 15 points while Roland Romano finished with nine points and six rebounds.

Trailing 7-6 three minutes into the half, the Eagles used 6-0 run to take a 12-7 lead.  At the 12:18 mark, Tino Gonzalez knocked down a three-pointer from the top of the arc to give the Eagles its largest lead of the half at 17-11.  The Nittany Lions stormed back over the next two minutes, going on a 7-0 run to regain a one-point lead.  Over the reamining eight minutes, the Nittany Lions pushed the lead up to seven, but the Eagles would not go away, tying the score at 36 with seconds remaining.  Abington managed to hit two last second free throws to take a 38-36 lead into halftime.

CSE started strong in the second half scoring 10 of the first 14 points to take a 46-42 lead.  After Abington came back to take a one-point lead, the Eagles ripped off an 8-0 run to open up its largest lead of the game at 54-47.  Over the next seven minutes, Abington regained control of the contest, outscoring the Eagles by 14 to take a 65-48 lead with 7:30 remaining in regulation. 

The Eagles refused to go away with four minutes remaining as Ty'ier Grier nailed a corner three-pointer to cut the deficit to two.  Despite trading baskets, CSE was unable to get any closer than two before dropping the contest by nine.

CSE returns to action on Saturday when it travels to NEAC leading Lancaster Bible for a 1 pm tip.