BOX SCORE

WALLA WALLA, Wash. – The No. 18 EOU men's basketball team rallied from a 12-point deficit to beat Whitman College at the Whitman Vineyard Inn Classic, 99-92.

EOU (7-1) bounces back after its first loss of the season to beat NCAA Div. 3 Whitman College. Six Mountaineers finished scoring in double figures led by Jamar Johnson's 18 points. The Portland, Ore. native made 6 of his 12 shots from the field, including 4 of 9 from behind the perimeter. He also had a team-high eight rebounds.

Travares Peterson added 15 points for Eastern. Cody Thurmond finished with 14 points and a team-high five assists. JC Cook scored 14 points off of the bench, Jason Mumm had 13 points, and Thomas McCarthy chipped in 10 points.

Whitman led by as many as 12 points twice in the first half and had a 50-41 halftime advantage. A lay-up by Justin Artis with 18:03 left in regulation gave the Missionaries its largest lead of the second half at 54-43. EOU went on a 9-0 run to cut the lead to two points.

A Cook free-throw tied the game at 60 with 10:24 left in the game. Less than two minutes later Eastern had a four-point lead. The game would tie three more times, with the last even score at the 4:37 mark was 77-77. EOU had its largest lead of nine points twice after that.

The Missionaries (2-1) were led by Brandon Shaw's 21 points. Whitman finished with six double-digit scorers. Artis had 16 points, Josh Duckworth and Ignas Pavilonis each scored 11 points. Peter Clark and Ryan Gilkey each finished with 10 points. Gilkey added eight rebounds.

Whitman shot 36 percent from the field and was held to 17 percent shooting from behind the arc. The Missionaries scored 40 points on the free-throw line converting on 40 of their 48 free-throw attempts. Eastern was 22 of 30 from the free-throw line, and shot 44 percent from the field and 36 percent from three-point range.

The Mountaineers turned the ball over 14 times while Whitman had 10 turnovers. EOU had 18 assists to the Missionaries' eight. Eastern Oregon outrebounded Whitman 49-46.

Eastern plays Pacific Lutheran University Saturday at 6 p.m. The NCAA Div. 3 Lutes let a second-half double-digit lead slip away in a 75-74 loss to Cascade Collegiate Conference foe, Northwest University, in Game 1 of the Vineyard Inn Classic Friday. Pacific Lutheran enters the game Saturday with a 1-2 record. Live stats and video are available on EOUSports.com.