If prior to Thursday Night's game, someone would have offered to Eastern coach Matt Nadelhoffer a game where his opponents two leading scorers combined for 13 points, the Eagle general probably would have taken that deal and believed his team would be a lock to win. The Eagles seemed to fix many defensive issues in their conference opener, but an 0-19 start from behind the three point arc put the Eagles in too deep a hole, and Eastern fell 77-61 to Gwynedd-Mercy.

The first half ground to a start as both teams locked in defensively, but the Griffens used a ten point run jump to to a 19-8 lead with just under ten minutes left. Jack Forth hit the first of his four three pointers in the midst of the run. The Eagles could only muster a pair of field goals from freshman center Dylan Lee and a single lay in from Jason Reels to close out the half, and the Griffins built a 17 point advantage. The Eagles shot a woeful 0-16 from behind the arc, and the Gwynedd-Mercy zone got tighter and tighter. Rashid Santiago scored nine of his game high 20 points before the intermission to pace the Griffins.

The second half saw the Griffins continue to hit from outside as they stretched their advantage to 27 points before Lenny DiMaria ended the Eastern shooting drought with a three pointer from the wing at the nine minute mark. The DiMaria bomb sparked an 18-4 run by the Eagles, who were able to cut the deficit to 12 with just under five minutes to play. Six straight points on baskets from Dave McFadden, Santiago, and Kevin Lauer bumped the Griffin advantage back to 18. Eastern again cut the deficit to 12 on three pointers from Matt Malloy and DiMaria, but the visiting Griffins never let the lead shrink to single digits as they hit their free throws down the stretch.

Junior forward Matt Malloy paced the Eagles with 16 points and 11 rebounds in the loss. Santiago's 20 led the Griffins. Chris DelBrocco led the Griffins with eight rebounds. Eastern returns to action against Arcadia at 3:00 on Saturday.

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