ST. DAVIDS, Pa.--Through the early part of the year, Eastern University Men's Basketball has used stingy defense and solid ball handling to jump to a 6-1 start. After an extended break for finals, the Eagles showed that they remembered their winning formula as they held Immaculata to 17 first half points in a 64-50 home win. Dan Miller provided a spark off the bench with 14 points, eight rebounds, and three assists.

The Eagles jumped to an early 9-4 lead behind five early points from Alex Nelson. The visiting Mighty Macs buckled down defensively and and took an 11-10 with just under 12 minutes to play in the half. Miller answered with a jumper from just outside the paint, and the Eagles would not trail again. 

With the 13-12 lead, Miller then played the role of provider. The senior forward found Ben Conner on the opposite block and then located Kyle Malloy in the lane for a 16-11 lead. Miller and Nelson then added inside hoops to build the edge to eight. Collin Whipple drained a three-pointer at the buzzer to send the Eagles to the locker room up 26-17.

"I think we matched their intensity." Head Coach Matt Nadelhoffer said of the start of the game, "If we didn't bring that, we were going to struggle. One of our keys is effort. A team like Immac. is not going to give up and they were going to keep competing. Our kids really did a great job with the game plan - Coach O'Brien did an outstanding job of preparing the kids."

Despite not starting the game, Miller had seven points, three assists and four big defensive rebounds in the opening half. After the game, Nadelhoffer spoke about Miller's development and how he has progressed as a teammate and defensive player. He said, "I thought Danny Miller played great defense. He was a good teammate...a great floor general - he made great passes, got to the foul line, made big buckets to stop their runs, really big on the glass, just huge defensively. He showed a lot of leadership."

"I was just thinking about defense in general." Miller said,  "I wanted to shut down their big guys. We knew they were stronger shooting inside than they were outside so I focused on that." Miller had a little extra incentive as his sister from Oregon was at the game. She sang the National Anthem prior to the game.

Nadelhoffer commented that both Miller and Tyler Stowers, whose parents were in from California, both were able to focus on their own roles and play within themselves. 

Nelson converted a three point play to start the second half, and the Eagles built their edge to 24 midway through the second half.  The Mighty Macs rallied a bit late as the Eagles struggled with some pressure defense down the stretch, but the result was never in question.

Nelson led all scorers with 16, and Whipple added 12 as eleven players scored for the Eagles. Brandon Smith led the Mighty Macs with 13. Eastern held Immaculata to 39% shooting for the evening.

"I thought that we really focused on what we could control." Nadelhoffer said in wrapping up the day, "Shots weren't falling, but we controlled our defense - it's such an attitude, effort, and character thing. You can't control whether or not you're going to make shots or if the officials make the calls you want them to. You can control how you compete, how much effort you put in...and you can control if you're going to be Christ-like or not." 

The Eagles will have a few days off for Christmas and will return to action at Scranton on January 2.

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