FREDERICK, Md.– Eastern Men's Basketball(19-7) used a 14-to-2 run over a three minute stretch in the second half to pull away from the second-seeded Hood College Blazers in the MAC Commonwealth Tournament Semifinal. After trailing by three at Half, the Eagles outscored their hosts 47-30 after intermission to claim an 86-70 win and a spot in Saturday's MAC Commonwealth Championship game at Widener. Senior guard Arkese Claiborne led five Eagles in double figures with 20 points on only eight shots. 

The decisive run began with eight and a half minutes left and the Eagles holding a 63-61 lead. Zubair Lee made a pair of free throws and Eljay Morris split a pair at the line after grabbing an offensive rebound. Nick Mate then hit a long 3-pointer, his third of the game, to push the Eastern lead to 69-61. 

"Kaeshawn had come to the bench with his fourth," Head Coach Dan Pruessner said of the big shot from the sophomore sharpshooter. "Kae sits next to me on the bench and says, 'If you run screen-tilt with Nick at the point, they are going under that screen, he will get a look.' We did, and he did. It was cool that Kae came over and said that."

Claiborne then picked up a steal and finished while being fouled to force a Hood timeout. He made he free throw for a 72-61 lead. Jaron Fairweather then finished the run with a long jumper at the end of shot clock. 

The Blazers stopped the run with a pair of free throws, but Claiborne answered with a 3-pointer from DaRon Sherman. His shot came from the exact spot on the floor where he missed a potential go-ahead shot late in the game in the first meeting between the two teams. Claiborne's ultra-efficient outing was his second-highest scoring output since donning an Eastern uniform.

"Arkese was great tonight," Pruessner said. "He joined us wanting to play post-season basketball. He got in a little foul trouble early, but he was tremendous at both ends of the court in the second half."

Hood came out of the gate on fire. The Blazers were making 3-pointers early and led 19-10 and had the home crowd buzzing. The Eagles found a response. By continuing to push the pace and doing a better job closing out on shooters, Eastern had worked into a 25-24 lead with nine minutes left in the first half. 

"We did a great job taking their punch and getting right back," Pruessner said. "You watch tape of them in their gym and they can turn those 7-point runs into 20-point leads in no time. Jaron hit some big shots to answer and slow them down."

Fairweather, who scored 39 the last time the two teams played, scored nine points in a 10-burst to put the Eagles up. Almost all those shots came from outside the paint. Fairweather finished the game with 19 points on 8-of-17 shooting. 

The Eagles briefly built their lead to seven with a short burst of baskets from Ward, Reeves, and Lee, but the Blazers rallied and led 42-39 at intermission. 

Hood hit eight first half 3-pointers and held a commanding 25-18 edge on the glass. The Eagles addressed both issues in the second half. The Eagles addressed both issues in the second half. The Blazers made two long-range efforts in the opening three minutes of the second half before missing their final ten shots from distance. They finished 10-for-37 for the game. Six different Eagles grabbed multiple rebounds in the second half, and they owned a 24-16 edge after the break. Lee had four of his five offensive rebounds after halftime. He finished with a game-high 11 rebounds to go with 16 points and four blocked shots. 

With thirteen minutes left an the game tied at 55, the Blazers missed from deep and Sherman won a tough battle for a rebound. Claiborne hit a 3-pointer from the left wing for a three point lead. At the other end, Hood ran a set to isolate their speedy point guard against Eljay Morris. It looked like the play worked but Morris, made up ground, blocked the lay-up attempt and Claiborne collected the rebound and pushed the pace. He found Fairweather in the corner for another 3-pointer. The Eagles would not trail again. 

Mate scored 11 points off the bench, and Ward had ten points and five rebounds. It is just the second time this year, the Eagles have had five players in double-figure scoring. 

Soren Almquist led Hood with 19 points and Garrison Linton had 16 points and ten rebounds. Kullen Robinson scored 12 of his 17 points in the second half. The Blazers (19-6) hold several high quality wins and were ranked second in Region 5 going into tonight's game. Even with the loss, they will be a team under consideration for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. 


Eastern's 19 wins are the second most for the program since the University joined the NCAA in 1992. It is the fourth consecutive full season that the Eagles have won at least 17 games and the third time in a Conference Championship game since the 2019-20 season. 

With the win, the Eagles earn another shot at the defending MAC Commonwealth Champion Widener University Pride. The thirteenth ranked Pride won the MAC Commonwealth regular season title and beat Alvernia this evening to earn the right to host. Widener won both regular season games between the two teams.

"It's a long bus ride," Pruessner said of the trip to Hood, "but the guys were ready to play right off the bus. We could have started the game five minutes after we got there and they would have been good. They were really locked in. We will need to have that from the start in the Championship game."

Saturday's Championship Game will stat at 7:00 pm at Widener. More information will be made available early tomorrow.