CLEVELAND– Eastern University Men's Basketball opened the second half on a 17- to-1 run to break open the game on the way to an 82-62 win over the Waynesburg University Yellow Jackets in the opening round of the the Bill Sudeck Tournament hosted by Case Western Reserve University.
Jaron Fairweather led a balanced Eastern attack with 15 points.
Despite not scoring a field goal in the final five and a half minutes of the first half, the Eagles used 17 made free throws to forge a 41-26 edge at the break. The Eagles' stifling defense held the Yellow Jackets to just 8-of-23 (34.8 %) shooting in the opening frame.
Even with the lead, the Eagles' dry spell from the floor, seemed to give the Yellow Jackets hope. The Eagles hit 3-pointers on three of their first four second-half possessions and built the lead to 58-27 on a steal and lay-up from
Eljay Morris with 15:23 remaining in the game.
The Yellow Jackets cut the Eastern lead to 16 with six and a half minutes to play, but a fast break basket from
Kevin Reeves and back-to-back inside scores from
Zubair Lee popped the Eastern lead back to 22 points and the game was secure. For the game, the Eagles had a 17-6 edge in fast-break points and a 40-22 edge in points in the paint.
The Eagles shot 17-of-34 from the floor in the second half and held a commanding 20-11 edge on the glass. Waynesburg had just three live-ball offensive rebounds in the game.
The Eastern defense only forced 12 first-half turnovers, but the Eagles converted those into 14 points. The Eagles reached the bonus halfway through the first half, but they made only 17-of-25 from the line.
Reeves, Lee, and Keshawn Ward all joined Fairweather in double figures. Lee had 13 points and six rebounds in only 13 minutes. Ward and Reeves each had 12 points.
Arkese Claiborne had seven points in his first action as an Eagle.
With the win, the Eagles advance to tomorrow's 3 pm Championship game against the winner of the game between Pitt Bradford and the host CWRU Spartans. CWRU was 22-4 and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament last season.
