Senior guard Jason Reels led the Eagles with 24 points on 10-17 shooting, but the real story of Wednesday's 61-48 win at King's happened at the other end of the floor. The Eagles controlled the defensive glass and held the host Monarchs to 35% shooting for the game.

King's took a 5-0 lead as the Eagles committed three turnovers in the first two minutes of the game. Reels tied the game with a pair of jumpers against the Monarch zone. The game was tied at nine apiece just over seven minutes into the game, but Eastern's starting center Kyle Malloy had picked up a pair of early fouls trying to slow down Kevin Conroy, King's' All-Conference center.

With Malloy in foul trouble, the Eastern staff turned to Eddie Mbanda, and the 6'8" sophomore responded with a nice tip in just seconds after he checked in the game. The Eagles earned a stop the next trip down, and upped their lead to five points on a Martin Soaries three pointer.

The hosts tied the game at 14-14 with two straight outside shots. The second basket came on a lengthy three to beat the shot clock. Coach Nadelhoffer said of the possessions at that point, "You worry when teams make shots like that, because you think it just might not be our night, but on the other hand, when you are forcing teams into those types of shots, you are doing the work at the defensive end. I thought Chris Myers applied outstanding ball pressure all night, and I was very pleased with our defensive rebounding."

The teams traded baskets before Reels scored five straight points to spark a 9-0 run that set the tone for the game. King's cut the lead to seven at the break, but they would never get closer. Reels had 14 points to lead all scorers at the break. King's scored its first second chance basket of the game with 19 seconds to play in the half.

The smaller Eastern players secured 17 of 20 rebounds at the defensive end of the floor. Reels had seven of his ten rebounds in the first half and Myers managed to get to the basket to secure four of his eight before the intermission. King's shot just 8-28 in the first frame.

The Eagles kept their advantage with efficient possessions through the second half. Reels hit a three, one of his four triples on the night, to start the second half and give the guests a 30-20 edge. With Malloy in foul trouble, the Eastern staff elected to go small and Reels and junior guard Derek Wright saw significant time against the bigger interior players from King's. They held Conroy to just two points and three shots in the second half. 

For the night, the Eagles (3-3, 1-0) shot just under 50% from the field, and they owned a 38-26 edge on the glass. Soaries finished with 14 points on just 11 shots. Collin Whipple came off the bench with six points, six assists, and four rebounds.

The Eagles did not attempt a free throw in the contest, but still managed to build their lead to 18 points midway through the second half. Nadelhoffer commented on the lack of foul shots saying, "We were patient in our offense and we got the shots we were looking for. It was a little surprising to shoot no free throws, but part of that came as part of our commitment to getting good looks and hitting shots. I thought we did a nice job dictating the pace of the game in the second half."

The Eagles will host Misericordia on Saturday afternoon in the second game of a doubleheader with the women. 

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