ST. DAVIDS, Pa.– Eastern University Men's Basketball ground out an 80-70 win over the visiting King's College Monarch to sweep the season series and claim a fifth-consecutive MAC Freedom victory. William Blet led a balanced attack with 19 points, 11 rebounds and five assists. Up 62-58 with eight minutes to play, the Eagles used a 10-to-0 burst over a four-minute stretch to break open the game.

How It Happened:
Eastern (13-7, 7-2 MAC Freedom) led 35-33 at halftime, and did not trail in the second half, but the Monarchs, behind the hot perimeter shooting of Tyler Millan stayed in range. Millan scored 21 of his game-high 25 points in the second half. He was 5-of-9 from behind the arc in the frame. All five of his made 3-pointers came in the first 12:10 of the half.

The Eastern lead stayed between two and seven points for those first 12 minutes. Michael Bowlers started the critical run with a lay-in on a good feed from Darius Washington. Bowlers and Peel each had blocked shots on the defensive end to help the Eagles to build the run. Bowlers then scored inside to put the Eagles up 66-58 with six minutes to play. Bowlers then found Marquise Peel for a short jumper and a ten-point edge, and Peel found Blet for an easy basket underneath. Draig Ruff took a pass from Bowlers to complete the run.

For the second game in a row, every Eastern player who saw the floor picked up an assist and the Eagles finished with 22 helpers. Bowlers finished with an 11 point, 14 rebound double-double. The junior forward also added four assists and three blocks.

The Monarchs (4-16, 2-7 MAC Freedom) made a push late, but the Eagles made enough free throws late to close out the game. The Eagles were only 12-of-23 from the line in the game. In continuing a trend of opposing teams shooting well from the foul line, the Monarchs made 11-of-13 foul shots. Eastern opponents are shooting 77 percent from the line against the Eagles this year. In MAC Freedom games, the number is over 80 percent.

The Eagles balanced the inside scoring of Bowlers, Blet and Peel with solid shooting from distance. Washington made 4-of-8 3-pointers and and Ruff added a pair from behind the arc.

The Monarchs other than Millan were 6-of-29 (20.6%) from the floor in the second half. The Eagles made 16-of-28 shots in the second half.

Washington finished with 15 points and 6 rebounds, and Ruff had 10 points and five rebounds. Peel scored 12 points and grabbed six boards in 18 minutes off the bench.

Andrew Hudak had 14 points and Noah Tanner added 10 for King's.

Up Next:
The Eagles will play at Delaware Valley University at 3:00 pm Saturday. The game, which was originally a 4:00 pm start is now back to 3:00 pm. The Aggies lost to Misericordia tonight but still sit alone in third place in the league with a 6-3 mark. Del Val beat Eastern  76-73 in December.