GRANTHAM, Pa.— Eastern University Men's Basketball put together a stifling defensive effort through the opening half and held on for a decisive 80-58 MAC Commonwealth win at Messiah. Dejuan Taylor scored 18 points, and Olise Onyeka had 17 points and 15 rebounds for his 14th double-double of the season.

The Eagles (9-12, 6-5) came into the needing to secure a win to stay in the middle of the chase for a MAC Commonwealth post-season spot. They also knew that Messiah had been pushing teams to the brink as of late. Messiah lost in overtime to Widener and led York by as many as eight points late.

"I told the guys before the game," Head Coach Dan Pruessner said. "These guys are going to get someone, it cannot be us. I thought our guys took good responsibility for defending and we were able to get their bigs in some foul trouble. AJ [Anthony Williams] and Josh Fad [Josh Fadahunsi] gave us good minutes and energy off the bench."

When the two teams met in St. Davids earlier, the Eagles made 11-of-25 from behind the arc and ran away with a 90-57 win. Neither the number of makes nor the number of attempts were likely in the rematch. Tonight, the Eagles finished 5-of-18 from behind the arc, but two of those makes came in the final two minutes of the game.

The defense set the tone early, and the Eagles opened up a 20-7 lead in the first 12 minutes. Connor Fleet scored six of his ten points early, and Messiah was only 3-of-21from the floor. After Messiah scored back-to-back baskets. The Eagles closed the half on a 13-to-5 run.

Onyeka had 11 first-half rebounds, and though both teams had nine offensive rebounds at the break, the Eagles had a 14-to-2 edge in second-chance points.

Messiah (4-18. 0-11) made six second-half 3-pointers, but the Falcons were never able to close the gap to single digits. Eastern was 16-of-29 from the floor but gave some points back making only 12-of-18 from the foul line.

The win puts the Eagles into the fourth spot in the MAC Commonwealth standings with three games to play. They are at York on Saturday and will host Alvernia next Tuesday before closing the year with a home game against Hood. York won at Stevenson on a last-second tip-in. Hood stayed unbeaten in the league with a late game-winner at Alvernia.