ST. DAVIDS, Pa.- At any point during the preseason, one could have walked through an Eastern Men's Basketball practice and heard Head Coach Nate Stewart telling his team that they were going to need to rebound and play defense to win. The young Eastern team heeded the words of their coach as they were dominant on the boards and forced 30 turnovers in a convincing 63-45 win over Lancaster Bible College.

Eastern (1-1) trailed 12-8 with eleven minutes to play in the opening half before Kevin Antol hit a tough 12-footer to spark a 12-0 run. Keith Crowell tied the game with a put-back basket just past the midway point of the period. Tyler Stowers hit a three from the corner on the next possession to give the Eagles the lead for good. Crowell capped the run with a three-point play in transition on a good feed from Anthony Bertolino.

Stewart elected to put pressure on the visiting Chargers with wholesale substitutions, and the Eastern depth took its toll with steals and offensive rebounds. Eastern grabbed 13 offensive rebounds and forced 15 turnovers on the way to a 31-29 lead at the break. Anthony Parenti and Antol each had six to lead the Eastern offense. Eight of the twelve Eagles who played in the period scored.

The Chargers briefly cut into the Eastern lead early int he second period, but Stowers sparked another 10-0 run with a jumper five minutes into the frame. Kyle Malloy finished the run at the midway point with a tough inside hoop on a feed from Parenti. Malloy finished with eight points.

The Eastern offense did not look glamorous down the stretch, but regardless of the line-up on the floor, the men in gray were on the offensive glass and forcing miscues at the other end. Eastern finished with 29 offensive rebounds and forced 30 turnovers. They converted the turnovers into 24 points and the offensive rebounds into another24.

With the 17 point lead, the Eastern staff used the late minutes to see some younger players in game action. Caleb Knudsen made the most of his four minutes with a pair of lay-ups and seven rebounds.

The only downside to having that many offensive rebounds is that there is no way to do it without missing a lot of shots. The Eagles finished 25-of-77 from the floor. Lancaster Bible, led by Dan Karl's 25 points on 10-of-11 shooting, shot 20-44 for the game and 10-19 in the second half. Eastern was nearly flawless on the defensive glass in the second half. LBC had just one offensive rebound int he final twenty minutes.

Jimmie Willis finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds and was the only Eastern player to reach double-figure scoring. 

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