News Release

— Men’s basketball opens with a 63-57 win over Philadelphia Biblical

Grand Rapids, MI. (11/19) – The Eagles men’s basketball team opened its season with a 63-57 win over Philadelphia Biblical College tonight in the opening round of the Calvin College Tip-Off Tournament. Eastern (1-0) will face Calvin College (1-0) in the tournament’s championship game on Saturday afternoon at 3 PM in the Calvin Fieldhouse. Calvin was an 84-35 victor over Grace Bible College in tonight’s other first round game. Grace Bible (0-1) and Philadelphia Biblical (0-1) will square off in the consolation game at 1 PM.

PBU held a small lead for some of the first half, however, the Eagles stayed close enough to tie the game at 11-11 just 10 minutes in to the game. After this and four baskets later between the two teams, EU took the lead and kept it for the rest of the game. With six and a half minutes to play in the first stanza, Eastern went on a 16-6 run to give the Eagles a 37-26 lead going into halftime. Although EU shot 7-14 free throws during the first half, it was able to keep a lead with the help of 4 of 7 from behind the arc by seniors Ryan Tozer (Norwood, PA/Friends Central) and Brent Voorhees (Grandville, MI/Tri-Unity Christian). The defense, however, contributed the most for the Dirty Birds, as no EU player walked in to the locker room at halftime with more than 1 foul and PBU shot only 2 free throws in the first 20 minutes. The Eagles went on to shoot 38.2% (21-62) for the game, 33.3% (4-12) from three-point range and a dismal 52% (17-33) from the free throw line. The Eagles ruled the boards tonight with a 45-39 advantage in rebounds, 13 caroms from the offensive glass. Notably, EU played 12 players tonight, at one time with 4 true freshmen on the court.

Senior forward Brent Voorhees, playing in front of a hometown crowd, led Eastern with 25 points on 8-16 shooting from the field and 16 rebounds in 36 minutes of play. Voorhees grew up just miles from Calvin College and graduated from Tri-Unity Christian School. Junior guard Chris McMonagle (Lancaster, PA/Lancaster Catholic) scored 10 points in his season-opening start with 4-12 shooting from the field. Senior guard Ryan Tozer scored 8 points on 3-8 from the field and 1-3 threes and freshman guard David Volpe (Harleysville, PA/Christopher Dock) started, playing 15 minutes in his first collegiate game. Junior guard Corey Copeland (Baltimore, MD/Mt. St. Joseph) scored 6 points with 3 steals in just 16 minutes.

Forward Jeremy Coleman led PBU with 18 points and 12 rebounds, while forward Bryndon Mumford added 6 points and 8 rebounds and guard Flor Colon scored 10 points with 6 assists