It was the kind of monumental task that tests your will and pushes your limits, as the Golden Eagles fought loaded Mount Vernon Nazarene on the road in their season opener losing 101-70 on Wednesday. Even though the Navy and Gold lost by 28 points to the Cougars who are ranked 8th in NAIA preseason polls, their head coach, Jared Ronai, praised the Eagles who "have some great quickness and really come at you from the wings".

Early on it was KSU Tusc who had the Cougars by the tail as they jumped to a 16-7 lead by knocking down some early long distance bombs. Arthur Jackson, led the charge with two three pointers before MVNU called timeout with 11:24 left in the opening half. The two teams traded baskets until the Cougars found some success down low and posted a 10 point advantage only to have to stave off multiple Eagles runs, before finally breaking out to a 48-31 halftime advantage in the NAIA Champions of Character game at Ariel Arena.

The Eagles fought desperately to narrow the gap in the second half with a high tempo offense, but ended up trying to cut into the deficit with three pointers that missed the mark. They would only make 8/34 shots from distance for just 23% as they tried to claw their way back. MVNU made 27/29 free throw attempts to hold the visitors at bay in the game that saw the Eagles make just 13 trips to the charity stripe where they connected on eight. Still, KSU Tusc shot a respectable 36% from the floor while the winners connnected on 47% of their field goal tries. The Cougars out-rebounded KSU Tusc 48-34.

Gunnar Tharp led the Eagles with 15 points, while freshman, Andre Leavell added 13 and Malik Campbell 10. Leavell also grabbed a team-leading six rebounds.

The Golden Eagles now have a week to prepare for a road trip to Penn State Shenango on Wednesday, November 6, 2019 in a 7 p.m. start.