Westwego, La.--Eastern University Men's Basketball defeated the Husson University (Maine) Eagles 83-78 Wednesday in the opening day of the Big Easy Challenge.

Eastern's Alex Nelson led all players with 20 points, and for the fifth game this season, Eastern had four players score double-digits. Collin Whipple scored 14, Mike Donatoni added 13 and Martin Soaries contributed 10.

Eastern trailed by 12 points with 4:51 left in the first half but cut the deficit to two at halftime. Eastern head coach Nate Stewart, while not pleased with the deficit, was pleased with the fact that his players didn't quit. He noted that the defense increased its intensity just before the half, which led to four Husson turnovers in the final 2:30 of the first half.

Coach Stewart noted specifically the intensity of Ben Connor, Mitch Singer and Dan Werth. Werth made a crucial steal followed by a successful 3-point play with 2:00 left in the half.

Eastern regained the lead in the beginning of the second half and led 51-48 with 14:51 remaining. By the time the clock reached 9:29, Husson had just capped off a 17-4 run to take a 10-point lead.

Again staring down a double-digit deficit, Eastern gnawed away at the deficit over the next six minutes and regained the lead at 3:20 on a layup by Mitch Singer. For the rest of the game, Eastern maintained the lead, thanks in part to shooting seven-for-eight from the free throw line in the final minute. 

As a team, Eastern shot 26-for-37 (70.3 percent) from the free throw line, just 0.4 percentage points shy of its season average.

Eastern challenges the University of Massachusetts-Boston Beacons (3-6) at noon (Central Time) on Thursday.