ST. DAVIDS, Pa. – Eastern Men's Basketball dropped its season opener 78-68 at the hands of the Rosemont College Ravens. Shaquan Turk scored 18 points to lead the Eagles. Marcus Thomas scored a game-high 28 points to lead Rosemont.

Both teams started slowly. They combined for eight points in the opening five minutes. Rosemont (1-0) built a 20-9 lead. The Eagles (0-1) managed to battle back and close the gap to 34-28 at the break.

Eastern shot a pedestrian 35 percent from the field in the first half and only 20 percent from behind the arc. The Eagles forced nine Rosemont turnovers in the first half, but the offense gave the ball away 11 times.

Eastern closed the gap on the Ravens in the second half, but the frst-half gap proved to be too big. Thomas scored 19 of his points in the half.

Overall Eastern shot 39.7% from the field while Rosemont posted a shooting percentage of 41.3%. The biggest difference in the game though was at the free throw line. The Eagles went 18-35 (51.4%) while the Ravens went 24-29 (82.8%).

Turk led all Eastern scorers with 18 points and seven rebounds. Teammates Abraham Kurnick and Malcolm Garrison were the only other two players to post double-digit points for the Eagles. Kurnick netted 12 while Garrison scored 11.

Eastern hosts Cabrini on Nov. 17th in The Battle for Eagle Road.