ST. DAVIDS, Pa.– It was like watching the same movie twice. As they did at DeSales in the first game of the conference season, Eastern University Men's Basketball made only 2-of-21 shots to start todays home game against DeSales. The MAC Freedom-leading Eagles trailed 24-7 before they made their third field goal. Eastern made a run late, but fell, 80-66.

The visiting Bulldogs (13-6, 5-3 MAC Freedom) shot 54.2 percent for the floor with six made-3-pointers on the way to a 39-21 halftime lead. The Eagles (11-8, 6-2 MAC Freedom) Made only 6-of-29 shots from the floor and were 1-of-9 from behind the arc in the opening 20 minutes. Victor Peña was a lone bright spot in the first half with eight points and ten rebounds.

The Bulldogs built the lead to 22 early in the second half before the Eagles started to put together a run. Eastern cut the deficit to 52-39 on a pair of free throws from Shaquan Turk, but Turk, who played limited minutes with foul trouble in the first half, picked up his fifth foul on the next defensive possession. Eastern's leading scorer went to the bench with over ten minutes to play. Turk finished the game with six points. He played only five minutes in the second half.

DeSales went on an 8-0 run to build their lead back to 21 with eight minutes to play. The Eagles cut the deficit to 11 with an 8-0 run that included a three pointers from Tarek Hamzeh and Austin Duncan, but the Bulldogs made 9-of-14 foul shots in the final five minutes to close out the game.

"This is one game," Head Coach Eric McNelley said after the loss. "It is a learning experience. We have to get better, and I am confident we will grow from this. We have another tough test on Wednesday."

The Eagles will travel to Misericordia on Wednesday. Eastern beat the Cougars in overtime, but Misericordia has won four-straight games. They are averaging 101 points per game game and giving up only 75.7 over their last three MAC Freedom contests.

Peña finished with 21 points and 16 rebounds and Duncan finished with 10. Kuity Slanger led four Bulldogs in double-figures with 16.

The Eagles were 6-2 in January with their only two losses coming to DeSales. Eastern is now tied with Delaware Valley a game ahead of DeSales and Misericordia. Eastern will play at home again next Saturday against King's.