Eastern held the lead throughout and used a decisive 11-2 run to pull away to a convincing 57-43 win in their regular season finale. That win, coupled with a DeSales win at Alvernia, gives Eastern (17-8 10-6) the third seed in next week's Freedom Conference playoffs. Eastern will travel to Purchase, NY to take on second seeded Manhattanville for a chance to play in Saturday's championship game.

Tyrik Tucker led the Eagles to a 30-20 halftime edge with nine points. Junior captain Jason Reels had eight points and six rebounds at the break. The Eastern defense forced the young Monarchs into 7-18 shooting and twelve first-half turnovers. The Eagles appeared to be ready to pull away on a lay-in and free throw from Tucker on a nice lob from Soaries to push to a 25-14 lead with two and a half to play, but King's got six points from Kevin Conroy down the stretch to keep the game at 10.

Eastern hit just 1-7 from behind the arc in the first half, and continued to struggle from behind the arc until Martin Soaries found the range midway through the second half. Soaries hit three straight bombs in an 11-2 run to break open a game that never seemed to be in doubt, but yet was strangely insecure. His third three gave the Eagles a 47-31 lead with eight minutes to play. 

Eastern Head Coach Matt Nadelhoffer said of his team's effort, "We knew coming in that we had to take care of business up here. Though they are in a down year, King's is a good program, and Conroy is a really good player. They have been in every game. I thought our guards did a nice job pressuring the ball, and Martin was huge in the second half. We needed someone to step up, and he did. I really liked the way Jason finished at the rim today, and we did a solid job of going to the glass as a group. We are looking forward to next week."

Soaries finished with 12 points of 4-6 from behind the arc. The freshman guard also added seven assists and three rebounds. The Eagles scored 30 points off the hosts' 20 turnovers, and they were able to secure the win despite taking a season-low seven free throws. 

Reels finished the day with a game-high 17 points on 8-14 shooting. He also chipped in with nine rebounds, three steals and a pair of blocked shots. Conroy led King's with 16 points. Tucker took just one shot in the second half and finished with 11.

The Eagles, who were picked to finish 7th in the preseason poll, finish in a tie for third with Wilkes. Their 17 wins sets a new Division 3 high water mark for the program. More details concerning Wednesday's playoff game at Manhattanville will be made public at www.goeasterneagles.com as soon as details are given by the Conference office.