ST. DAVIDS, Pa.--Eastern University Men's Basketball earned its first Freedom Conference win of the season with a 76-69 win over Delaware Valley College on Saturday.

Senior Collin Whipple had a hot hand, shooting 10-for-15 (66.7 percent) from the floor on his way to a 25-point night. "Collin played well and steadied us offensively," Coach Nate Stewart said. "The best part about it was that it only took him 15 shots to get to 25 points. He played great defense and did a good job against their zone being able to penetrate the gaps."

Out of the gate, the Aggies kept the game close, but after Eastern's Mike Donatoni made a 3-point play with 15:43 remaining, the Eagles never looked back. The Eagles held a six-point lead going into the half and increased that to as large as 15 points in the second half.

Donatoni scored 15 points against the Aggies, including a four-point play in the second half. Donatoni fired a 3-pointer near the Eastern bench with 13:25 left and was knocked over by the Aggies' Cam Lee, drawing the rare four-point play.

Alex Nelson scored more than ten points in a game for the sixth straight game. He finished tied for the team high in rebounds (six) with freshman Anthony Parenti. Parenti recorded those six rebounds in just 15 minutes of game time. "He gave us huge minutes off the bench," Coach Stewart said.

Throughout the game, especially towards the end of the game, Delaware Valley put on its full court press, but Eastern seemed to navigate through it. Coach Stewart attributed part of that success to having five experienced seniors on the court. "They didn't panic," he said. "It's nice when they're poised under pressure."

Stewart was glad to check his first Freedom Conference win off his to-do list. "I thought it was a total team win," he said. "We definitely want to protect our home court and we were able to do that. Delaware Valley played really hard without one of their better players [Jeremy Beckett]."

The Eagles, now 5-2, travel to The College of New Jersey on Thursday for a 8 pm game.