ANNVILLE, Pa.– Eastern University Men's Basketball ground out a 78-66 MAC Commonwealth win at Lebanon Valley College. After trailing, 22-13 early, the Eagles closed out the first half on a 16-to-2 run and never trailed on the way to their thirteenth win of the year. With the win, the Eagles (13-4, 6-2) move into a tie with Alvernia atop the MAC Commonwealth standings.

After shooting 4-of-19 and struggling with 15 early turnovers against the LVC zone early, the Eagles solved the zone with 7-of-9 shooting and no turnovers over the final five and a half minutes. Kaeshawn Ward scored all five of his first-half points the decisive run.

The Eastern defense held the Dutchmen to only 10-of-35 shooting for the half.

LVC (5-12, 3-5) hit several tough shots in the second half and made 15-of-30 overall, but the Eagles went 16-of-30 and made six more free throws to pull away.

Even with solid shooting and steady defending from their rookie post players, the Eastern lead was only four with five minutes to play. The Eastern veterans worked for good shots late in the clock and Sam Gallardo corralled an offensive rebound and found Draig Cooley for a lay-up and a 68-62 lead with 3:50 on the clock.

The Dutchmen split a pair at the line and Zubair Lee made the first of two for the Eagles on the next possession. Olise Onyeka grabbed the offensive rebound on the missed second shot and drew a foul on LVC forward Collin Jones. After an LVC technical, Jaron Fairweather hit a pair and Onyeka split a pair and the Eagles had all the separation they would need.

Lee finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds, Onyeka had 11 points, four rebounds, and two blocks, and Brian Jackson scored a basket and had a pair of rebounds. The three first-year forwards all took turns keeping Jones, a two-time first-team All-MAC Commonwealth performer and the league's leading scorer, away from the basket. Jones finished with 17 points and 14 rebounds, but he had to work for shots and was unable to take over the game in the second half.

Kaeshawn Ward made a pair of 3-pointers and flirted with a triple double. Eastern's junior point guard finished with 14 points, a season-high nine rebounds, and seven assists. Fairweather had 13.

"Olise played really well. He made some big plays on offense and really battled on defense and on the glass." Head Coach Dan Pruessner said after the game. "It was actually a bit of an ugly game for us. We had a bunch of bad turnovers early . They hit some tough shots in the second half to keep us from pulling away, but we also had some breakdowns that we are going to need to fix if we are going to get where we want to go. A win on the road in this league is always big, but we can't be satisfied."

With Albright winning at Widener, Eastern and Alvernia are the only two teams to make it through the first half of the league schedule with only two losses. Widener and Stevenson are tied for third, and Hood, Messiah, Albright, and Lebanon Valley are in a four-way tie for the fifth and final playoff spot.

The Eagles will open the second half of the league schedule at York on Saturday.