WILKES-BARRE, Pa.– Eastern University Men's Basketball saw its six-game winning streak snapped with a  73-63 loss at King's College. The Eagles cut a 23-point halftime deficit to nine in the second half, but were unable to complete the comeback. Victor Peña had 14 points and 14 rebounds to lead the Eagles in the loss.

How It Happened:
The Eagles (12-8, 7-2 MAC Freedom) trailed from he start but cut the deficit to 15-14 on a 3-pointer from Peña with a little more than nine minutes left in the half. With William Blet home with illness and several other Eastern players under the weather, foul trouble took the Eastern squad out of its regular rotation, and the Monarchs seized control of the game. They scored 28 points in the final  nine minutes of the half to build a 43-21 lead at the break.

Eastern was only 7-of-23 from the floor with nine turnovers in the first frame. The Monarchs (11-9, 4-5)  had just a single first-half turnover and were 7-of-16 from behind the arc.

The Eagles showed some life by scoring the first five points of the second half. Little-by-little, the Eagles carved into the lead and closed the gap 59-47 on a Draig Ruff lay-up with nine minutes to play in the game. Seconds later, Ruff picked up his fourth foul on a charge in transition. and the Monarchs built their lead to 64-47 on a pair of free throws and a quick 3-pointer.

An 8-to-0 Eastern run pulled the visitors to within nine with 5:46 on the clock, but the Eagles would get no closer. They trailed by nine again near the three minute mark when the Monarchs beat the shot clock with a long 3-pointer to bump the lead back to 12.

The Eagles shot 16-of-30 from the floor in the second half, but only two of those makes came from behind the arc. Game Perez scored 15 points, Michael Bowlers added 13 points and Ruff had 12. Tyler Faux led the Monarchs with 17.

Coach Pruessner Says:
"Some days nothing goes right. We have been grinding out close wins, but today we got in a hole with a really tough stretch in the first half. We did not have the energy we needed on the defensive end to win a game against a hungry team."

"It seemed like every time there was a call or a bounce that could have gone either way, it went the other way. We showed some grit coming back in the second half, but we were not able to get the big stop to keep runs going when we got it to within nine."

Up Next:
The Eagles fall back into a first-place tie with DeSales and Stevens. Eastern beat both those teams at home the first time through the league. Eastern's other loss in the league came at Delaware Valley early. The Eagles will host the Aggies this Saturday at 3:00 pm.