The Eastern University men's basketball team started the second half of their league schedule with a 61-56 home win over league-leading DeSales. Collin Whipple came off the bench with 18 points, and the Eagles converted 12-14 free throws after the half to earn the win over the defending Freedom Conference Champions.

Prior to the game, Eastern Head Coach Matt Nadelhoffer shared that he was concerned with the Bulldogs' deep rotation, and that the Eastern squad was going to need exceptional production from the bench to compete. Nadelhoffer got all that he could ask for from his non-starters as Whipple scored 12 of his points in the first half, and Eddie Mbanda and Paul Trusty played critical and effective minutes. Mbanda finished with 8 rebounds and five blocked shots, and both he and Trusty made a pair of field goals.

Senior captain Chris Myers spoke of the effort of Mbanda and Trusty after the contest. "Those guys were huge for us," he said, "they didn't score a lot of points, but they made some big shots, and they did a great job at the defensive end."

The play of Whipple was not a surprise to the coaching staff. Though he had made just thirteen of his last 48 shots entering today's contest, the Eastern staff had great confidence in their sophomore captain. "Collin will go the first twenty minutes of a shooting practice before he misses a shot," Associate Head Coach Ryan Livingston commented, "and we felt he just needed to let the game come to him a little bit, and then shots would start to fall."

After missing his first shot, Whipple hit a three pointer with nine minutes to play in the opening half to give the Eagles a 13-12 lead in a fierce defensive battle. He scored on the next possession as well after Mbanda earned a stop at the other end with a blocked shot. The Eagles built their edge to 17-12 on a 16 footer from Myers before Darnell Braswell trimmed the lead to three on a mid-range jumper. The reigning Freedom Conference Player of the Year carried much of the load for the visitors at the offensive end. He would finish the half with 10 of DeSales' 26 points.

Whipple scored another pair of hoops around an Alex Nelson three pointer and the Eagles expanded their edge to 24-17 with3:48 on the clock. The Eagles had a chance to stretch the edge to nine,but Whipple's two free throws rimmed out, and Braswell quickly cut into the lead with his first three pointer of the day. DeSales briefly cut the lead to two before the Eagles made consecutive three pointers.Derek Wright hit the first one on kick-out from Whipple and Whipple buried a contested three with 26 seconds left to put the Eagles up six. 

DeSales held for the last shot and Nicholas Rossignoli converted a baseline jumper to close the half. Eastern hit 4-6 threes for the first half while holding their guests to 2-6. Myers commented on the importance of stopping the Bulldogs on the perimeter, "Coach did a great job preparing us," the senior captain then continued, "we felt confident in our defense and he [Nadelhoffer] kept telling us that we had to takeaway the three." The Bulldogs finished the game just 4-15 from distance.

The Eagles stumbled out of the gate a bit in the second half, and DeSales scored two straight hoops to tie the game with16 minutes to play. The Eagles regained the lead following a nice bounce pass from Nelson to Kyle Malloy. Wright then put the Eagles up 34-30 on a Myers' dish.

The Eastern lead, however, did not last long, as Rob Schubach hit a three and Brett Moyer finished in transition following a Brian Hunter steal. Moyer scored again to put the guests up three before Wright sparked the Eagles to a 9-0 run with a three pointer on another Myers' pass. The Eagles completed the burst in just over a minute and a half as Whipple connected for four points and setup Trusty with another good pass.

The Eagles held a five point edge midway through the period. Both teams misfired before Martin Soaries, who finished with 14 points and three steals despite playing a season-low 28 minutes, earned the painted area and found Mbanda for another inside hoop.  A 19-footer from Whipple gave the Eagles their biggest lead of the contest with six minutes to play, but Braswell answered immediately with a 3 pointer to shut the Eastern edge to 49-43. 

DeSales looked to their senior All-American down the stretch, and Braswell made shots, but the Eagles converted free throws and caught everyone off guard with a transition basket from Soaries with 40 seconds to play to earn the five point win. Myers made 4-4 and finished with eight points and six assists in 39 minutes. 

Nadelhoffer was very pleased with his team's execution. "Once again, I have to point to the job the guys off the bench did," the Eastern boss remarked, "they brought great energy at the defensive end, and they made us better at the offensive end. We were able to overcome a little foul trouble for Martin, and I thought we were fresher down the stretch than we have been. This is a big win for us on our home court."

The five point final margin turned out to be the exact differential in bench-scoring for the afternoon. DeSales' seven reserves combined for 21 points on 8-18 shooting. The three Eastern reserves finished 11-19 with 26 points. 

The Eagles (9-10, 5-3 Freedom) sit alone in third place in the league standings. They host second place King's in another big Conference test on Wednesday night. The Monarchs upended Manhattanville in Wilkes Barre this afternoon. Eastern won their league-opener against King's in the beginning of December.