ST. DAVIDS, Pa. – Eastern Men's Basketball surpassed the century mark on Saturday afternoon defeating visiting Manhattanville 101-74. It was the first time since beating PSU-Brandywine 115-55 last season that the Eagles have passed the 100 point mark. Eastern used an outstanding shooting performance, solid defensive effort, and a 58 point second half to claim the victory.  

"We came out and played loose this afternoon and hit some big shots," said Head Coach Eric McNelley. "We are happy overall collectively as a staff, team, and program with this win."

Eastern (11-12, 5-7 MAC Freedom) raced out to a 13-4 lead early on in the first half scoring on its first five possessions of the game. The Valiants (13-10, 7-5 MAC Freedom) cut the deficit to seven at the halfway point of the first half at 20-13 but would never get any closer for the remainder of the game. Austin Duncan knocked down a 3-pointer on the Eagles very next possession to stretch the lead right back to ten, 23-13.

After the Valiants had pulled within eight, 27-19, with just over six minutes left to play in the half, Eastern responded with an 18-7 run to close out the half. Shaquan Turk scored ten points during the scoring spree to help the Eagles took a 17 point, 43-26, lead into the locker room.

Overall in the first half, Eastern went 16-of-33 from the field shooting (.485), while holding Manhattanville to a 9-of-30 shooting performance.  

The Eagles opened up the second half on a 28-11 run hitting back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers at one point to stretch their lead to 34 at 71-37 with just under 12 minutes left to play in the game. Eastern continued to build on its lead and at the 8:52 mark of the second half stretched the lead to its largest of the game, 40 at 83-43, after Jonathan Tolber knocked down a layup in the paint.

"We got a lot of guys experience today which is a great thing for us," continued McNelley. "I am not going to hold them back, they practice twice as hard as everyone else but have just never gotten the opportunity to get in any games."

Eastern continued to grow its lead and with just over two minutes left in the game Darius Washington knocked down a 3-pointer to put the Eagles over the century mark and stretch the lead to 101-66. Manhattanville did manage to close out the game on an 11-0 run to make the score final at 101-74.

Overall the Eagles never let go of their 30 plus point lead throughout the second half until the final 3-pointer from Manhattanville. For the game, Eastern went 39-of-71 from the field shooting (.549) and 12-of-25 from 3-point range going 9-of-15 in the second half alone shooting (.600).

"We had a lot of freshmen step up today for us," said McNelley. "You can see the results right away with Darius and Duncan. I think Victor did a great job today setting the tone early on the boards and finishing around the rim."

Five Eagles tallied double-digit scoring performances in the game. Victor Peña scored a game-high 16 points and recorded ten rebounds as well to post his third double-double of the season while also going 7-of-8 from the field. Malcolm Garrison, Washington, and Turk each netted 14 points apiece combining to go 15-of-29 from the field. Duncan rounded out the double-digit scoring with ten points on a 4-of-5 performance from the field and going 2-of-2 from 3-point range.

Charles Nardone led all Manhattanville players with 13 points while Victor Troya netted 11 points of his own. Javin Barton rounded out the double-digit scoring with ten points.

"We are as good as we were tonight, but we have to get ready for Tuesday," concluded McNelley. "We have been on both sides of the coin, and we just need to focus in and handle business in Dallas, Pa."  

Eastern travels to Misericordia on February 16th for an 8 pm game.