ST. DAVIDS, Pa.– A terrible start was ultimately too much to overcome as Eastern University Men's Basketball dropped an 87-69 home test against the 19th-ranked  Widener University Pride. The visiting Pride (17-3, 7-2) scored the first 14 points of the game and led 17-2 after four and a half minutes. The Eagles closed the gap to three points, but were never able to recover. Kaeshawn Ward finished with 25 points.

Widener built the early lead on 7-of-8 shooting. Anthony DiCaro made a pair of 3-pointers in the run and had 17 points on 5-of-5 from behind the arc int he first half.

With the gym full to capacity, the Eagles (13-7, 5-4) gave the home crowd a reason to get up as they answered with a 14-to-2 run over a five and a half minute stretch. Davin Hernandez connected on a long 3-pointer and made the foul shot to pull the Eagles to within 19-13 and Jaron Fairweather hit a 3-pointer to close the gap to a single possession.

After Widener answered that shot with a long-range effort with the shot clock running down. Olise Onyeka hit a 3-pointer on a good kick out pass from Zubair Lee to again pull the home side to within three. Lee scored on a put-back to answer another Widener 3-pointer, but the visitors had too much confidence from deep. The Pride hit four more 3-pointers in the next three minutes to build back a 13-point edge.

The Pride ended the half on a 10-to-4 run with Kevin Schenk hitting a 28-footer as time expired. The shot put Widener up 48-29 and was the ninth 3-pointer in 15 attempts for the visitors.

Chasing the game, the Eagles pulled to within 12 with a 15-to-8 run to start the second half. Down that many against a really good team, the Eagles needed to be almost perfect, and they were not.

Widener pushed the lead back to 20 with 10:17 to play and the Eagles had to start the comeback again. Davin Hernandez started a 9-to-0 run with a 3-pointer. Ward had the next three baskets in traffic. The Widener lead, though, stayed in double figures until Ward hit a 3-pointer with 4:09 left to close the score to 76-67.

The Eagles had a tremendous defensive set for the first 29 second of the shot clock, but Dominic Dunn hit a 3-pointer from the corner as the shot clock expired. After a turnover, the Eagles had to chase on defense, and Widener got easy baskets. The Eagles would get only one more basket, a Kevin Reeves put-back, the rest of the way.

Eastern shot 48.3 percent in the second half, but though the Pride were only 3-of-11 from deep after intermission, they made their inside baskets and free throws.

Hernandez finished with 15 points and Lee had 11 points, nine rebounds, and five assists. With his 25-point night, Ward is 21 points from 1000 for his career.

Dunn scored 25, and Schenk added 19 for Widener.

The Eagles have dropped to fifth in the congested MAC Commonwealth and will host Stevenson on Saturday. The Mustangs dropped a 78-65 decision to York tonight.