ST. DAVIDS, Pa.– Eastern University Men's Basketball used 9-of-14 shooting from behind the arc in the first half to pull away to a 14 point lead and held on to top the visiting DeSales University Bulldogs, 78-67, in the league-opener for both teams. Antonio Chapman led four Eagles in double-figures with 22 points.

Chapman hit back-to-back long-range efforts to give the Eagles a 12-8 lead a little over four and a half minutes into the game. Eastern (6-6, 1-0 MAC Freedom) hit three more 3-pointers led 21-12 before hitting another 2-point shot. The Bulldogs (9-3, 0-1 MAC Freedom) trimmed the deficit to three points, but Austin Duncan made a 3-pointer on a kick-out pass from game Perez and Jordan Johnson finished inside to build the Eastern lead back to eight points with six minutes to play in the half.

Johnson and Victor Peña each made a pair of free throws to put the Eagles up 49-35 at halftime.

"Offensively we played inside out," Head Coach Eric McNelley said after the game. "That was our intent. Victor and Jordan applied the pressure on their defense and opened up shooters early. We took advantage of it. Antonio Chapman set the tone for us early and did a good job of running the offense while finding his own shot at the right times. He had a great first half."

Chapman led all scorers at half with 18 points. The senior guard was 4-of-6 from behind the arc and did not have a turnover. The Eagles had just five turnovers in the half and led by Peña's eight rebounds, held a 20-13 edge on the glass.

The Eastern lead expanded to 68-43 on a Duncan three-point play midway through the second half. While that lead seemed safe, the Bulldogs, who had won the last four meetings between the two squads, had another push left. A couple quick baskets turned into a 14-2 Bulldog run. Austin James hit a big 3-pointer on another Perez pass to stop the run and push the Eastern lead back to 16 with 3:22 on the clock.

"We had a couple bad possessions down the stretch," McNelley said. "We made some bad decisions that allowed DeSales to gain momentum. We will need to clean that up over the next two days. We are excited about getting into conference play. We are getting healthy and look forward to having our full roster able to play here soon. We will have another tough test against King's on Saturday." King's beat Delaware Valley 92-73 in Wilkes-Barre tonight.

Peña finished with 13 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. James made 3-of-5 from 3-point range and finished with 15 points and Duncan added 12. Johsnon had eight points and eight rebounds.

Kweku Dawson-Amoah led DeSales with 13 points and 10 rebounds.

Eastern will host King's at 3:00 pm on Saturday.