CHESTER, Pa. –Playing in their third conference championship game in the last five years, Eastern University Men's Basketball used a dominating second half to run to a 98-69 win over top-seeded and 13th ranked Widener University Pride. Tournament MVP, Zubair Lee led six Eagles in double figures with 25 points. The win is the first conference championship in the NCAA era for the program.

As they did at Hood in the semifinals, the Eagles (20-7) took a punch early. The Pride (23-4) made 11-of-16 shots with four 3-pointers on the way to a 28-13 lead. The only thing working for the Eagles early was Davin Hernandez. The junior guard had been scuffling of late, but he rewarded the confidence of the coaching staff with eight early points on three shots to help keep things within range. He finished the half with 13 and had 16 in the game. He made all six of his shots.

Even with Hernandez cooking, the capacity crowd was building in anticipation of another WIdener win. The Pride had won all 13 games in the Schwartz Center this season, and the veteran home side had run away with most of them.

Lee scored a pair of inside baskets to stabilize things and the Eagles pieced together 15-to-5 run over the next six minutes. The Eagles made 6-of-12 shots, but more importantly, the Pride made only 2-of-6. Arkese Claiborne hit a 3-pointer and a pair of free throws and Kevin Reeves made a pair of tough inside baskets.

Reeves, the only player on the Eastern roster from Pennsylvania, was playing in his home town. The senior forward finished the night with 10 points on 5-of-8 shooting.

Widener built the lead back to eight points with three minutes left, but the Eagles had served notice that they were in the game and were not going away.

"Davin was huge for us in the first half," Head Coach Dan Pruessner said after the game. "His shooting kept us in it and then we were able to close with a really good run."

The Eagles closed the half on another 15-to-5 run. Hernandez hit a another 3-pointers and Lee tied the score at 45-45 with a lay-up with a minute left. Kaeshawn Ward scored in traffic to put the Eagles up 48-46. Ward, a four-year starter at point guard. had nine points at halftime. He finished with 16 points, eight assists, seven rebounds, two steals and one turnover.

Including today, the Eagles are 17-0 when leading at halftime. Eastern shot 50 percent in the half. The Pride made 18-of-33 with five three pointers and still trailed.

The hosts had a quick start in the second half. They got 3-pointers from Steven Matlack, and Anthony DiCaro, and a tough jumper from Dominic Dunn, who are all 1,000 point scorers.  The Eagles had an answer. Jaron Fairweather, who had a very quiet first half, hit the first of two second-half
3-pointers to put the Eagles up and start a 9-to-0 run.

The Pride got back-to-back baskets from Dunn and DiCaro to close to within four with 14 minutes left, but they picked up some fouls and Dunn, who had scored over 100 points in his first four games against the Eagles, was forced to the bench with foul trouble.

The Eastern defense then kicked in. moving between man and zones, the Eagles kept Widener off balance and held the Pride to 4-of-22 over the final 14 and a half minutes. Eljay Morris made a pair of 3-pointers and after Hernandez hit his final 3-pointer of the game, Fairweather capped the game with a tremendous dunk in traffic to put the Eagles up 97-67.

Fairweather, who scored 7 points in 19 games as a freshman, finished with 11 points, 10 rebounds, and four assists.

Widener won the two regular season games by dominating the glass. Tonight, with Lee leading the way with 12 boards, the Eagles finished with a 45-32 edge on the glass. Eastern shot 17-of-34 in the second half and 56.3 percent from deep for the game. Widener went only 9-of-36 after halftime.

"We knew we needed to go at them," Pruessner said after the game. "Dunn and Schenk are so good, we had to make them defend and try to get them in foul trouble. Zubair getting to the line 10 times is huge. Still, it's crazy, the games going on and we are coaching each possession and all of a sudden you look up and its five minutes left and we are up 20."

"We put Jaron on DiCaro and Eljay on Dunn," Pruessner said of the second half adjustments. "Eljay did a tremendous job of keeping him away from the basket and off the foul line."

Dunn finished with eight points and only two free throws. Even shooting into the Widener student section, the Eagles made 12-of-15 from the line in the second half.

""This was just a great team win," Pruessner continued. "I am so happy for these guys and our coaches. This has been built on the work of the guys that came before. It's one of those things where we know that banner does not have a number on it. The guys are going to be really happy to get a '1' up there."

The Eagles become the seventh different team to win a MAC Commonwealth title in the past seven seasons.  

The win gives the Eagles an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, which starts next weekend. The Eagles will learn their destination and opponent on Monday afternoon. Widener, the top-ranked team in Region 5 will get an at-large bid to the Tournament.