MIAMI - Malcolm Garrison scored 20 second-half points to lead Eastern University Men's Basketball to a 76-57 win over UMASS-Dartmouth in Eastern's final game in Florida. With his 6-for-6 performance from behind the arc, Garrison became the 25th player in Eastern Men's Basketball history to surpass 1,000 points for his career.
Coming into tonight's game, Eastern's lone senior needed four points to hit the milestone. He did not score a point in the first half and made a 3-pointer on a nice kick-out pass from Shaquan Turk five minutes into the second half. Just after the midpoint of the half, he hit his milestone basket on a transition 3-pointer from Anthony Concepcion to put the Eagles up 47-44.

"I am on cloud nine right now," said Garrison of reaching the milestone. "This has been a personal goal for me since I came in. I talked to Coach Stewart when I first got here, and my parents supported me through it. We really all that goal for me and I am really glad it happened."

It was appropriate that Garrison hit the milestone on a 3-pointer. He has 187 3-pointers in his career, and he is shooting 50 percent from distance this year. He is fourth on Eastern's career 3-pointers made list.

"I knew it was in," said Garrison of the shot. "It was in rhythm; I knew it was far, but I knew it was in as soon as it left my hand. I backed up and knew it was good and said 'ya that's good' and that was the perfect shot for me to get to a thousand and the perfect way to go out."

"A one thousand point scorer, and what a way to do it," said Head Coach Eric McNelley. "Hit a gigantic shot like he always does, a big three to get momentum on our side. Silly me. I considered subbing him because he looked a little winded but looked in his eyes and next you know he hit the next one, and the next one and I said okay let's let him ride it out. So that's Malcolm," continued McNelley with a huge smile on his face.

After Turk had hit a free throw to give the Eagles a 48-44 lead, Garrison knocked down two 3-pointers and a jump shot on three straight possessions for Eastern for a 56-51 lead. From there Eastern closed out the game on a 20-5 run to claim the crucial and much-needed victory.

"I was relieved like finally I have completed that goal," concluded Garrison. "I just can't believe I finally did that and made the goal I set out for myself in freshmen year. It's a humbling feeling."

Garrison finished the game 6-of-8 from behind the arc. Turk added 13 points and ten rebounds and Victor Peña scored 12 points and grabbed 12 rebounds. Abraham Kurnick had ten points on eight shots.

McNelley did also talk about the win itself and was happy for his players, the fans, and coaches. "Winning, at the end of the day winning cures a lot of issues for any team," said McNelley. "Them [the team] finally seeing some rhythm and momentum and the post players finally establishing a presence on the glass and some put backs just really got us motivated to play again. Turk was a big part of that, and his presence on the glass and his vocal leadership made a big difference out there for us tonight."

Jordan Rezendes led all UMass Dartmouth scorers with 18 points. Nick Portelance added 11 points and 17 rebounds.

"I think the ten days off will be important for us," concluded McNelley. "We have a young bunch and have had two overtime losses, a flat performance against Rosemont and a tough loss to a very good Lancaster Bible, and Gwynedd Mercy was a tough one in which we came out flat and had no energy. It was a great way to end this half of the season."

In the first half, the Corsairs did not trail and led by as many as nine points. Eastern shot only 33 percent from the floor, but still cut the deficit to 31-27 at the intermission. Eastern shot 49 percent from the floor, including 8-of-9 from the behind the arc on the way to a 49 point second half. The Eagles also grabbed 12 offensive rebounds after halftime.

Eastern will host Ursinus College on January 4th at 7 pm. UMASS Dartmouth will play Plattsburgh State int he final game of the HoopMIA D3 Holiday Shootout tomorrow.