Box Score ST. DAVIDS, Pa. – Four Eastern players reached double figures, led by Alex Nelson with 13 points, as Eastern defeated Manhattanville by a 71-58 score in a Freedom Conference men's basketball matchup on Saturday afternoon at the Eastern Gymnasium.
Seniors Armani Blackmon (Plano, Texas/Plano East) and Trevoy Pointer (Dallas, Texas/Skyline) provided much of the Valiant offense on the day, combining for 34 of the team's 51 points. Blackmon had a great day on both ends of the court, leading all players with a career-high 20 points and adding a game-high 14 rebounds and a pair of blocks. Pointer followed with 14 points to go with five rebounds, two steals and two assists.
Eastern's attack was slightly more well-balanced, with four players reaching double figures. Nelson and Dan Werth tied for the team lead with 13 points apiece, with Nelson also eclipsing the 1,000-point mark for his career. They were followed by Michael Donatoni with 11 points and Collin Whipple with 10 for the home team.
Eastern took a 35-25 edge into the half, as Nelson and Donald Kaiser opened the game with buckets and the Eagles never fell behind the rest of the way. Manhattanville remained within four points at 13-9 on a layup by senior Jack Railton-Woodcock (Melbourne, Australia/Scotch College), but six straight Eastern points got the lead up to double figures for the first time.
Pointer led all scorers with 12 points in the opening half, shooting 4 of 8 from the field and also connecting on all four of his free-throw attempts. The only other Valiant with more than one basket in the opening 20 minutes was Railton-Woodcock with five points, while Blackmon was all over the glass with seven rebounds alone in the opening half.
After a Blackmon bucket to begin the second half, Eastern came back with seven straight points to open up a 15-point lead at 42-27 early in the half. The Valiants tried to stay in the contest, eventually getting the lead down to seven points (53-46) on a three-point play from Blackmon and a layup by senior Felipe Vargas (Miami, Fla./Miami Christian) with 9:32 remaining. But Eastern came back with 11 of the next 13 points to open up its largest lead of the game at 64-48 with less than five minutes left.
As much as Pointer dominated the first half for the Valiants, the second half belonged to Blackmon, who had 18 of his 20 points in the final 20 minutes thanks to 8-of-10 shooting. Unfortunately for him and his team, the remainder of the visitors' roster contributed just 15 points combined the rest of the way.
Manhattanville (9-10, 3-5 Freedom) will return home on Wednesday against FDU-Florham, with the live GoValiants.TV broadcast from at Kennedy Gym beginning at approximately 8 p.m. Eastern (13-5, 6-2 Freedom) will step out of conference play to take on Cabrini on the road Monday at 8 p.m.
