ST. DAVIDS, Pa. - Eastern Men's Basketball struggled early and never managed to find an offensive rhythm in an 86-77 loss to King's on Wednesday night. The Eagles went 25-of-68 from the field for the game and struggled to find any consistency at either end of the floor.

"This is a game that we just didn't come out ready to play," said Head Coach Eric McNelley. "It took us some time to get into the swing of things and we just never established ourselves."

After an initial 2-2 tie to start the game the Monarchs (12-10, 5-6 MAC Freedom) found their offensive stride and went on a 15-5 run stretching their lead to 17-7 with just over nine minutes left to play in the half. Eastern (10-12, 4-7 MAC Freedom) managed to overcome its slow start and climb back into the game cutting the deficit to just five at 26-21.
 

The Monarchs stretched their lead again, but the Eagles clawed their way back to trail by five at 31-26 with 1:50 seconds left to play in the half. Malcolm Garrison converted a four-point play after being fouled on a 3-pointer attempt, which he made, to pull Eastern within three at 35-32 with just under 30 seconds left to play in the half. However, King's responded again when Connor Hughes rattled home a 3-pointer with no time left on the clock to give the Monarchs a 38-32 lead heading into the locker room.

"Every time we made a run and managed to get ourselves back into the game they [King's] had an answer for us," continued McNelley. "They were mentally tough and never got down on themselves, and you have to give them credit for that. We were not as tough as we could have been and when we gain momentum we have to find a way to keep it."

For the half, Eastern went 9-of-30 from the field shooting (.300) and went 4-of-11 from 3-point range. Meanwhile, King's went 14-of-32 from the field and went 5-of-8 from 3-point range shooting (.625).

In the second half, King's built another lead, this time at 47-37, but once again the Eagles came back and managed to cut the deficit to just four after Shaquan Turk knocked down a layup in the paint to make it 47-43. However, Eastern failed to sustain its offensive rhythm and watched as King's went on a 13-4 run to make it 60-47 wth just over 11 minutes left to play.

Finding themselves down ten with 9:05 left to play Eastern managed to rally and pull within three on back-to-back-to-back possessions. After Tarek Hamzeh had hit a layup to make it 66-63, Austin James knocked down a 3-pointer of his own to make it 69-66. Moments later Jordan Johnson converted his layup attempt to make the score 71-68 with just under five minutes left to play.

"That was a good sequence for us offensively in the game," said McNelley. "We managed to knock down some shots and find a little momentum. They key, however, is maintaining that momentum at both ends of the floor and we just couldn't make the defensive stops that matter."
 

Just when it looked like the Eagles were going to pull this game out after everything that had happened to this point the Monarchs Jake Barber knocked down a 3-pointer at the other end of the floor to put King's back up by six, 74-68. The Monarchs never looked back outscoring Eastern 12-9 down the stretch to secure the game and crucial MAC Freedom win.

Turk led all Eastern scorers posting a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Hamzeh finished the game with 11 points while Garrison and Darius Washington each scored ten points respectively.

Dan Rutecki led all King's and game scorers with 20 points while also totaling 11 rebounds. John Fazzini finished the game with 17 points while Derek Wilkins scored 16 points. Tom Heston rounded out the double-digit scoring for King's posting a double-double as well with 14 points and ten rebounds.

"We have to learn, and we have to get better," concluded McNelley. "We have three games left in this season, and we need to simply finish the year better than how we started it."
 

Eastern hosts Manhattanville on February 13th at 3 pm.