DALLAS, Pa.– Eastern University Men's Basketball held the high-flying MIsercordia Cougar offense to 26 first-half points and pulled away to an 87-64 road win. The Eagles shot 48 percent from floor and made 19-of-21 foul shots in the second half to remain in a tie for first place in the MAC Freedom.

When the two teams clashed in St. Davids in mid-January, they combined for 219 points in a game where it seemed that the first team to get two stops would win. The Cougars (14-6, 5-4 MAC Freedom) had won four-straight and averaged over 100 points an outing in their last three wins.

It looked like they might have another one of those nights when the Cougars opened the game with six points on three possessions in the first 56 seconds to force an early Eastern timeout. The Eagles caught their balance and cut the gap to 8-6 on a pair of layups from Austin Duncan and a dunk in transition from Shaquan Turk.

"I just told the guys to take a deep breath," Head Coach Eric McNelley said of the opening timeout. "We had talked about having consistency in our energy and our effort and not to get caught up in runs."

The two teams traded baskets until the game was tied at 14-14. Austin James then put the Eagles up for good on a 3-pointer from the wing. Victor Peña then split a pair of free throws before James delivered again from deep to give the Eagles a 21-14 lead.

Eastern hit 2-of-3 3-pointers in the first half and 5-of-10 for the game. The Cougars were 1-of-12 from deep in the first half and 7-of-29 overall.

"I think we made them take uncomfortable threes," McNelley said. "We closed out hard in man and in zone and knew where we needed to be."

When the Cougars misfired, Peña led the Eastern effort on the boards. The sophomore standout grabbed seven defensive rebounds in the first half. At the other end of the floor, his presence inside freed up space for Turk, Duncan, and Austin Carroll to get good looks at the basket. Peña had 7 points and 11 rebounds at half. He finished the game with 14 points and 17 rebounds.

"Vic is a game-changer when he is that active," McNelley said of Peña. "He ends possessions at the one end and gets us extra possessions and put-backs at the other end. "

The Eagles shot 53.3 from the floor and scored the final six points of the half to lead 39-26 going into the locker room. Turk had 10 of his game-high 23 points in the first half.

The Cougars briefly cut the deficit to 44-38 early in the second half on a pair of 3-pointers from Griffin Sponaugle around a Tony Harding layup. Carroll answered with a tough jump shot in the lane to give the Eagles some breathing room. Carroll scored nine of his 13 points in the second half. The senior guard was 5-for-6 from the floor in the game and committed only one turnover in 30 minutes.

Though the Eastern lead stayed in double-figures for most of the second half, the sizable home crowd seemed to expect their side to put together a run to close the gap. The run came instead from the visitors.

After Jason Kenny hit a pair of free throws for the Cougars with six and a half minutes to play, the Eagles scored 12 of the next 14 points to build a 78-55 lead with just under four minutes to play. Carroll delivered the big blow with a  3-pointer from the corner off a pass from Lincoln Holley.

The Eagles hit their free throws and took care of the ball down the stretch to secure their third win in the Wilkes-Barre area this season. It is the first time in program history that Eastern has won all three road games north of the tunnel.

The win also puts the Eagles in a favorable position toward securing their first post-season bid since 2012. The Eagles (12-8, 7-2 MAC Freedom) remained tied with Delaware Valley at the top of the MAC Freedom standings.

Harding led Misericordia with 17 points.

"We have a long way to go," McNelley responded when asked about the post season. The Eagles will have a chance to take another big step forward when they host King's at 3 pm on Saturday.