ST. DAVIDS, Pa.– Eastern University Men's Basketball used a strong second half to pull away from the visiting York College Spartans, 79-64, and earn an 11th consecutive win. The Eagles (12-2, 7-0 MAC Commonwealth) started the second half on a 17-to-7 run and kept their advantage at or near double-digits the rest of the way. William Blet and Sam Gallardo each scored 18 points in the win.

York (6-6, 2-5 MAC Commonwealth) grabbed a 38-36 lead on a Chris Miers lay-up with a little more than a minute to play in the first half, but Kaeshawn Ward answered the York basket with a transition lay-up to tie the score. Blet put the Eagles up on the next Eastern possession and Gallardo made a free throw with time expired to send the Eagles to the locker room up three.

Gallardo and Ward each had a pair of 3-pointers and were in double-figures at the break. Gallardo had 12 points, and Ward had ten, but the Eastern offense looked apprehensive against the York zones.

"We settled a little in the first half," Head Coach Dan Pruessner said after the game. "We were 6-for-14 from three, but that is not really who we are. We took the shots because the were there. None of them were necessarily bad shots, but it kept us from doing what we needed to be doing. In the second half, we were able to get inside and ultimately force them to play some man."

Eastern took just five second-half 3-pointers and scored 26 points in the paint after the intermission. In that time, Blet was 7-of-14 from the floor and all of his baskets came within four feet of the rim.

York briefly cut the Eastern lead to seven at the ten minute mark, but Terron Bacon hit a 17-footer from the left side to push the Eastern lead to 60-51 with nine and a half minutes left. The Spartans answered to again trim the Eastern lead, but again, Bacon had an answer. The senior guard hit a step-back jumper with a hand in his face to end an extended possession and stretch the Eastern lead to nine. The Spartans would not get closer. Bacon scored all nine of his points in the second half.

The Eagles grabbed 13 offensive rebounds after halftime and converted those into 12 second-chance points. Gallardo finished with a game-high nine rebounds and Blet had eight. Ward finished the game with 15 points, five rebounds, and seven assists. Colin Reimel led York with 16 points.

The 11-game winning streak is the longest such streak since Eastern joined the NCAA in 1992. Eastern 's '87-'88 team went 30-6 while an NAIA member school, but there is no game-by game record of that season available. That team was inducted into Eastern's Hall of Honor in 2014.

The Eagles will close out the first half of the MAC Commonwealth schedule at Lebanon Valley on Wednesday. The Dutchmen (5-9, 2-5) had their league bye today.