WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - Eastern Men's Basketball beat the Wilkes University Colonels 82-67 in the MAC Freedom opener for both teams. Shaquan Turk and Malcolm Garrison combined to score 36 points to help the Eagles claim the important road win.

Eastern (4-2, 1-0 MAC Freedom) held a slim 31-29 lead after a sluggish first half. The Eagles shot 44 percent from the floor and only turned the ball over six times, but the game lacked rhythm or pace. The Eagles made only ten field goals. Even though the Colonels only made 9-of-29 shots from the floor, the game was still a two-point game. Turk scored the final four points of the half to give the Eagles the slim lead.  

Wilkes outscored the Eagles 14-6 to start the period. Lincoln Holley, in his first action of the year, scored the six of his eight points in the opening three minutes of the half, but the Eagles could not slow down the Colonel charge.

The Wilkes' lead was still six when Steve Stravinski made a 3-pointer with 12 and a half minutes to play.  
A steal from Turk and an Austin James lay-up on a long outlet pass from Anthony Fernandez sparked a 9-0 run to put the Eagles up for good. Victor Peña converted a three-point play and then Garrison and Turk went to work. Garrison scored on a tough jumper and contested lay-up around a pair of Turk free throws.

Even with the hot shooting, the Eastern lead was only one with six minutes to play.  Garrison hit a 3-pointer on a feed from Turk to put the Eagles up four. Eastern closed out the game on a 19-8 run.

"The ability to bring Malcolm off the bench for us has been huge so far," Head Coach Eric McNelley said of his lone senior. "He's given some of the younger guys an opportunity to get a feel for the game early and comes in and gives us a huge spark offensively." Garrsion averages 14.2 points per game and is shooting 49 percent from behind the arc. He also leads the Eagles with 12 steals.

"We mixed up thing on the defensive end, and we were finally able to string together consecutive stops that opened up the game a little bit," said McNelley. "With a team so dangerous shooting the ball from deep you need to stay disciplined defensively, and our guys did." Wilkes made 12 3-pointers in the game, but only one of those came in the final 12 minutes.

Turk and Garrison each scored 11 second-half points. Turk finished with 20 points on 8-of-14 shooting. Garrison had 16 points. James scored 11 points on only eight shots, and Holley added nine points in 11 minutes on the floor. The Eagles shot 61 percent from the floor in the second half.

"We have two conference games this week, and we needed to get this one on the road," concluded McNelley. "Now we will focus our effort on Delaware Valley and try to establish a strong home court in conference play. They are an extremely athletic and talented team. It will be a tough test for us."

Steven Stravinsky led Wilkes with 18 points and eight rebounds. Connor Evans added ten points.

Eastern hosts Delaware Valley University on Saturday at three.