WORCESTER, Mass. – After moving up to a fourth-place tie in the latest D2CSC East Region Poll, Post University Men's Basketball got an eight-day break following their thriller against also tied for fourth-place Dominican (N.Y.) to open up conference play last Saturday before facing off with Assumption University just over a week later on Sunday afternoon.
 
Staving off a late rally from the Greyhounds, junior point guard Bol Akot scored six big points in the final two minutes, en route to his 20-point day, to help the Eagles get their first win since the 2008-09 season against Assumption, 75-70, and head into finals week on a two-game winning streak.

THE BASICS

Post University 75, Assumption University 70

Post University (7-1)

Assumption University (4-5)

HOW IT HAPPENED
In a first half that would see only one player from both teams reach a double-digit point total in Akot for Post with 10 points in 17 minutes on 4-of-8 shooting, 16 total players would contribute to the offense between both teams. While the Eagles would shoot 48.5% from the floor (16-of-33) in the first 20 minutes, Assumption would match their mark with an impressive 41.9% (13-for-31) performance with 7-of-16 baskets coming from beyond the arc. Graduate forward Kasey Draper led the way early with eight points for the Greyhounds while hitting two of those seven made threes.
 
There would be eight ties and seven lead changes for both sides with Assumption's largest lead coming with 18:31 remaining in the opening half, 6-3, after Draper hit a three to start the game and then sophomore forward Daouda Dembele hit another. The Greyhounds would lead by three points on three occasions in the first three minutes before the back-and-forth ensued.
 
Neither team let the other out of its sight, still tied at 33 all with 3:07 to go when an 8-0 run by the Eagles gave them their largest lead of the half, 41-33. Akot scored half of the points on the run which helped him get to his 10-point first half total before Dembele's layup halted the run but still saw Post go into halftime leading by six, 41-35.
 
But the momentum the Eagles generated at the end of the first half would spill over into the beginning of the second half with Post taking a nine-point lead behind a layup from junior forward Deng Deang and junior guard Quest Harris. A 6-0 run from Draper and Dembele looked to change the tide of the game in favor of the Greyhounds, but with the Eagles still leading by three, 46-43, they would once again go on a run to give themselves some breathing room.
 
Freshman point guard Ta'Quan Williams added four points while junior point guard Robert Sanders added a basket of his own on a 6-0 response run that saw Post tie their largest lead of the game at nine again. The advantage would stretch to as many as 11 points twice before the seven-minute mark, before the Greyhounds would have another push in them to get back into it after falling behind 64-53.
 
Three different scorers for the Greyhounds helped spark a 6-0 run that got them back to within five, 64-59, before Akot silenced their run with a difficult step back jumper. Once again leading by nine with 3:46 left, Assumption would fight back again as graduate guard Kani Glover connected from long range and hit a layup to get his point total up to 12 points for the game and bring his team within four points, 68-64, their smallest deficit since 15:26 of the half when they trailed by three points, 46-43.
 
Like their last game against Dominican (N.Y.) it would turn into a nailbiter down the stretch as the Greyhounds closed to within three, 69-66, before Akot hit a big three to give the Eagles a six-point edge with 55 seconds left. But around a missed Post free throw, a Dembele layup and two free throws from senior forward Cooper Creek brought it back to a three-point affair, 73-70, with 28 seconds left.
 
With Akot missing the front end of a one-and-one, Assumption would have a chance to tie with a three, but Creek's shot would be off the mark in a half where the Greyhounds went cold from beyond the arc with a 2-for-11 effort after making seven in the first half. Junior forward Kyle Alcy would secure his team and game-high 10^th rebound and Akot's layup would ice the game for Post would moved to 7-1 on the season with a 75-70 road victory.
 
BY THE NUMBERS

• With his double-digit point performance, Deng Deang now has eight consecutive games with double-digit points, scoring 12 points today on 6-of-12 shooting
• After eclipsing 20-plus points for the fourth time this season, finishing with 20 points on 8-of-18 shooting, Bol Akot is now averaging a 19 points per game which leads the team and at the moment ranks third in the conference
• At 7-1, Post University is one win away from tying their best start in program history – The 2012-13 team lost their first game before rattling off eight straight wins to start the season with an 8-1 record
• The win for Post University is the fifth time in which they have beaten Assumption after dropping their last two in the all-time head-to-head matchup – the last four games have been decided by single digits  

WHO'S NEXT
Post University will have a week off for finals on campus before returning to action at home next Sunday afternoon at the Drubner Center against Bentley University. Tip-off is scheduled for 2:00 PM. The Eagles are 0-7 all-time against the Falcons with the most recent matchup coming last season on the road, an 81-68 loss, up in Waltham, Massachusetts. Bentley made it to the NCAA Division II East Regional Championship against University of New Haven in last year's NCAA Tournament. Before new polling comes out on Monday, the Falcons are ranked third in the D2CSC East Region Poll currently.