FREDERICK, Md.– In a pre-storm road test against the league-leading Hood College Blazers, Eastern University Men's Basketball battled throughout but was unable to erase an early Blazer lead in a 91-82 loss. Olise Onyeka had 23 points and nine rebounds to lead the Eagles.

Hood (15-2, 6-0) needed a career-performance from Jevon Yarborough to claim the win. The junior guard went 14-for-14 from the line and finished with 42 points, ten assists, and seven rebounds.

"He hit some tough shots," Eastern Head Coach Dan Pruessner said after the game. "He's able to draw contact to get to the foul line and when you send extra guys he makes the right pass." Yarborough averaged 23.4 points per game before today, and he made 12-of-19 shots from the floor.

Eastern started in an early hole as the hosts made 6-of-7 from behind the arc in the opening four minutes to lead 20-6 at the first media timeout. Jude Huseby made four 3-pointers in the burst.

"We were not trying to give anyone open looks," Pruessner said of the start, "but when the guy who is statistically their worst 3-point shooter goes 4-for-4 in the first four minutes, that's tough."

Undeterred, the Eagles clawed back into the contest. Nick Mate made three free throws and a pair of 3-pointers in a 15-to-6 run that was more about defense than offense. The Eagles kept the Blazers on the perimeter where they made only 2-of-9 over nearly a six-minute stretch, and the lead shrunk to five with nine minutes left.

Mate finished the game with 18 points off the bench. His fourth 3-pointer of the game tied the game at 35-35 with three-and-a-half minutes left in the half. The Blazers outscored the Eagles 12-to-7 over the final three minutes of the half to go to the locker room up 47-42.

The final 36 seconds of the half had Connor Fleet hitting a deep three before Yarborough answered with a make on a heavily-contested 3-pointer with under five seconds left. Fleet beat the buzzer at the other end.

Mate led the Eagles with 15 at the break and Onyeka had 11. Yarborough led the Blazers with 17. The Eagles trailed by five despite making 7-of-14 from deep and making all seven of their free throws. Hood was 10-of-27 from deep in the first half.

In the second half, the Eagles never let the game slip away, but every time they gained ground, it seemed Yarborough had an answer. The Eagles did not have the same success from deep but made 20-of-27 second-half foul shots. The Blazers also shot worse from the floor, but led by Yarborough's 9-of-9 from the line, they went 14-of-15 to help neutralize the Eastern edge. After Yarborough, the rest of the Hood line-up was 6-of-21 in the second half.

Onyeka sees his string of double-doubles snapped at seven. Fleet finished the game with 15 points and Dejuan Taylor had 12 points and five rebounds. Mason Lewis gathers eight rebounds.

"I think we learned some things today," Pruessner said after the game. "They are really good, and in a lot of ways very different from what they have been. This is going to be a tough place for anyone to win, but we can take what we did today and get better as we head into a couple very important road games."

The Eagles are slated to travel to Alvernia to complete the first half of the league cycle on Wednesday before starting the second half of the MAC Commonwealth season at Albright. Alvernia (9-7, 3-3) won at Messiah today. Albright (8-9, 4-2) won at York this afternoon.