It was not really a beautiful game, but to the Eastern faithful in Saturday's capacity crowd, Eastern's 54-42 win over first place DeSales University (18-5 10-4) looked like a masterpiece. Tyrik Tucker led all scorers with 20 points as the Eagles led from start to finish. Eastern secures a spot in the Freedom Conference Tournament with the win.

Neither team was able to get going early, but Tucker hit his third three-pointer of the year to give the Eagles a 3-0 lead four minutes into the game. Ed Lapinski finally got the Bulldogs on the board a minute and a half later when he answered a Don Kaiser bucket with one of his own. Jason Reels then sparked a 7-0 run that took just 27 seconds of clock with an inside basket. Martin Soaries stole a ball at mid-court to set up tucker for a lay-up. Soaries stole the ball at mid-court again and finished the run with a  three-pointer on the left wing off a nice kick from Reels.

DeSales was able to cut the Eastern deficit to 14-9 midway through the half, but the Eastern defense kept the Bulldogs away from the basket and the visitors refused to hoist up ill-advised shots. The game therefore, crawled along. The Eagles eventually built their edge to 23-11 with three minutes to play in the half. Brian Hunter hit a three-pointer to spark an 8-2 run to cut the Eastern lead to six. 

Chris Myers hit a jumper with just under ten seconds to play, and it looked as though the Eagles would go to the half up eight, but Charles Princiotto rolled in a ten-footer as time expired to end the half at 27-21. Ed Lapinski had six points at half to lead the guests. Soaries had seven and Tucker six to lead the Eagles. Eastern Head Coach Matt Nadelhoffer was very pleased with his team's defensive effort for much of the first half. He said, "We put together that really good burst of turnovers to give us momentum, but I was most impressed with what Chris did on their point guards and how hard our interior defenders worked to stay in front of Lapinski. He killed us at DeSales, and we knew we would have to really make him work. I thought we really set the tone in the first half."

Tucker scored eight points in a 14-4 run to start the half, and the Eagles looked pack. The freshman hit a 17 foot pull-up jumper, a pair of free throws, a breakaway dunk, and a lay-up in traffic as the Eagles continued to defend with tenacity. Eastern led 41-25 with just over eight minutes left in the game.

The Bulldogs took two final runs to try to retake control of the game. They scored five straight points before Soaries answered with his second three of the game. The visitors then put on another 5-1 burst to cut the Eastern lead to eight before Derek Wright split a pair from the line and Soaries stole the inbounds pass to set up a pair of Chris Myers free throws. The Eagles hit their free throws down the stretch and held on for the 12 point win.

Nadelhoffer continued, "We had a little moment of panic in the second half, but we haven't really had the experience of being up on a good team like that, and I think we turned playing intelligently into playing not to lose. We are still a young team, but I'm really pleased with they we bounced back after a couple tough losses."

Soaries finished with 12 points, four assists and three steals. Lapinski finished with 17 points and ten rebounds to lead the visitors. Eastern held DeSales to 23% shooting in the second half and forced 19 turnovers for the game. 

The Eagles (15-8 10-4) return to action at home on Wednesday night as they host Lancaster Bible College for Senior Night. The Eagles will honor senior Ty Coleman before the game.