ST. DAVIDS, Pa.--There was nothing pretty about it. Regardless, Eastern University Men's basketball advanced to the Championship game of the Nate Ware Invitational with a 62-49 win over Philadelphia Biblical University. Collin Whipple, Dan Miller, and Alex Nelson each scored 14 points to pace the Eagles in the win. Eastern will play Alfred University, a 64-60 winner over New Jersey City University, in tomorrow's championship game.

The Eagles scored the first basket of the game on Nelson's only three pointer of the day and then broke a 3-3 on a 15 footer from Whipple to take the lead for good. Eastern built the lead to 17-5 on a Nelson basket in transition. PBU was able to narrow the gap back to four after holding Eastern without a point for nearly five minutes. Miller broke the drought when he split a pair at the line. Eastern scored seven straight points in transition, but PBU refused to go away. Eastern led 29-22 at the half.

PBU's Chase Brunner led all scorers at the break with eight points. Neither team shot well through the opening half, but 9 PBU turnovers allowed the host Eagles to hold the lead. Whipple and Nelson each had seven at the intermission.

The second half was full of missed opportunities. The Eagles were able to get the ball inside, but only connected on 41%of their shots, and they shot a woeful 58% from the foul line. The bright spot for Coach Nadelhoffer's squad was the defensive presence of first year wing Chaz Merriman-Brown.He scored eight of his ten points in the second half and finished with three steals. His dunk in transition gave the Eagles their biggest lead of the day at 46-30. 

"Chaz can create a lot of things with his defense," Nadelhoffer said after the game, "we feel really good about how he is coming along.On the other hand, and I don't want to be 'Coach Obvious' here, but we need to make free throws. I think the guys will, but we left a lot of points out there by not converting."

Brett Zamroz finished with a game-high 19 points for the visitors.

Box Score 

In the opening game, Mike Stopera finished with a game-high 25 points as the Saxons of Alfred University bested New Jersey City in a back and forth game. Stopera hit 9-12 shots, including 4-5 from behind the arc, but Josh Parker scored seven of the last eight points for the Saxons (1-1) to help them hold off the Gothic Knights. Parker finished with 12 points and Sean Curran added 13. Da'Shon Barrino scored 15 points to lead New Jersey City.

PBU and New Jersey City will play at 1:00 in the Consolation Game.