Eastern University Men's Basketball ground out a 60-52 home win over Rosemont College to give head coach Matt Nadelhoffer his 100th career victory. Martin Soaries  led the Eagles with 22 points and a game-high nine rebounds.

The visitors jumped to a quick 7-0 lead on a three pointer from Justin Chaney and a baskets from Russ Slawter and Malik Carter. The Eagles then answered with a 18-4 run to seize an 18-11 lead with just under six minutes to play in the period. Soaries started the run with a pair of inside baskets and Derek Wright scored five points late in the run on a nice move in traffic and a three pointer on a kick from Collin Whipple.

Rosemont, coached by former Eagle Ryan Tozer, refused to go away. Carter and Slawter hit consecutive baskets to cut the eastern edge to 18-15 with just under five minutes to play. Malloy scored an inside basket on a Chris Myers assist to briefly up the eastern advantage to five, but Abraham Bah connected from long range to bring the ravens to within two. The visitors then tied the game on a DeAndre Jordan layup with a minute to go.

Whipple made a huge play to close the first half. The Eagles were playing for the last shot and, after pressure defense forced them far from the basket, settled for a desperation three from Derek Wright. The ball caromed wildly and Whipple wrestled the ball free from a pair of Rosemont players before powering home a lay in with just seconds to play. The Eagles went to the locker room with momentum and a 22-20 lead.

Neither team shot the ball particularly well in the opening half as the Eagles made just 10-27 from the floor, and the ravens hit just 8-23. Carter led the visitors with six points and Whipple had the same for the Eagles.

Nadelhoffer said of the opening period, "it took us a little while to figure things out, and when we went into halftime up two points, and we were shooting as poorly as we were, we felt that we were going to be able to get the win. We were missing shots that we've been hitting all year. I felt our defense was solid."

When Soaries scored the first seven points of the second half, it looked like Eastern might run away with the game. Slawter calmed things down for the visitors with a long three, but Soaries answered with his second three of the half to give the Eagles a 34-25 lead just four minutes in. As they had done earlier, the visiting ravens had an answer, and they scored six straight points on a three-point play from Greg Gardner and a long-distance shot from DeAndre Jordan.

Rosemont had a chance to cut into the lead further when Slawter stole the ball and tried to push forward in transition, but Malloy stepped in the way, picked off the pass, and found Whipple for transition basket to change momentum back. The Eagles built the lead back up to nine on a Wright three-pointer and a fast-break jumper from Malloy, Though Rosemont close the gap to as little as three, the Eastern guards would never let them close up further.

Nadelhoffer said of the game, "we had several moments where guys stepped up and made big plays. I felt Martin found his rhythm in the second half and that helped us as a team figure things out. Kyle and Martin both made big steals that gave us points when it looked like they were going underway in transition. I was pleased with the way we responded in the second half, and I told the guys after the game that it was really important for us to be able to grind in games where we might not feel great or have a big crowd behind us."

Whipple and Wright joined Soaries in double figures with 14 and 12 points respectively. The Eagles shot 52% from the floor in the second half and held Rosemont to under 40% shooting for the game. Carter led the visitors with 12 points.

Nadelhoffer's 100th win came in front of a small home crowd, but with Tozer coaching on the opposite bench many Eastern basketball alums were in the crowd for the evening. He said of the accomplishment, "I know it is an accomplishment, and I think it says a lot about the stability we have in the program, but I also feel it has more to do with players and our entire staff than just me. I am looking forward to seeing this year's team continue to grow."

Prior to his arrival, the Eagles had not had a winning record in the 10 previous seasons, and had only finished higher than eighth in the conference once. Nadelhoffer, now 100-91, endured difficult transition years early but has guided the Eagles to winning marks in three of the last four years. The '08-'09 Eagles finished 17-9 and earned the third seed in their first year in the Freedom Conference. This year's team is off to a 2-0 mark in league play and has won five straight. 

The Eagles (6-3, 2-0 Freedom) will return to action shortly after Christmas with a pair of games in Florida. After that they will return to conference play with an important road game at DeSales University.