CHESTER, Pa. – After a restless day of waiting for power to come back on on campus and in its home gym, Eastern University Men's Basketball made the trek down the Blue Route to play the No. 22 Widener University Pride in the second game of double header. The Pride (12-2, 2-1) defended their home turf with a 100-83 win.
Kaeshawn Ward led the Eagles with 21 points.
Despite some early foul trouble, the Eagles (10-4, 2-1) led 15-14 after six minutes. Widener grabbed control of the game with a 20-to-6 run over the next six minutes and held that advantage until halftime where Widener led 52-38. The Eagles shot only 40 percent from the floor in the first half. Widener was able to hold a two-carom edge on the glass and doubled the Eagles up with 12 made free throws to Eastern's six.
The second half had moments where the visitors seemed to be gaining momentum, but each time the Eagles would have a chance to close the gap to single digits the veteran Widener group would come up with a key basket to hold off the Eastern charge.
The Eagles came into the game leading the league in offensive rebounds. Despite missing 41 shots from the floor, the Eagles had only 11 offensive rebounds and scored only 11 second-chance points. The Pride turned their 16 offensive rebounds into 24 points.
With the switch from a home game to a road game, the Eagles now look at one of the toughest gauntlets possible in the MAC Commonwealth. After playing at Widener tonight, the Eagles face the two remaining teams without a loss in the league in their next two games. They are at 11-2 Hood on Saturday, and 12-2 Alvernia next Wednesday. Widener and Alvernia will play this Saturday.
"There will not be any easy games in this league," Head Coach
Dan Pruessner said. "It was a little tough going through the day not knowing where or if we would be playing tonight, but tonight, they beat us. They handled pressure and controlled the glass. We will need to take this and learn from it. It doesn't get any easier, Hood presents a whole bunch of different challenges."
