LA GRANDE, Ore. – The No. 18 Eastern Oregon University men's basketball team cruised to an 86-66 win over Montana Tech in the second game of the Aramark Quinn Classic.
The Mountaineers (3-0) opened their 2010-11 home regular season schedule with the victory. Eastern improves to 55-5 in Quinn Coliseum in its last 60 games in La Grande. EOU has also won 31 out of the last 32 regular season home games. The lone loss came in last season's home opener to Montana Western in the second game of the Quinn Classic.
Eastern Oregon used unselfish play to ease its way to its third win of the young season. The Mountaineers tallied 24 assists in the win, led by
Cody Thurmond's career high 10 assist performance. The sophomore added 11 points.
Thomas McCarthy scored a game-high 21 points on 7 of 12 shooting from the floor including 5 of 12 from behind the perimeter.
EOU's
Jason Mumm made his debut in Quinn Coliseum with a double-double (18 points and 14 rebounds).
JC Cook added 13 points for the Mountaineers, who lead NAIA Div. 2 averaging 111 points per game. Eastern averages 25 assists and 13 three-pointers made a game through three games this season.
The Mountaineers outscored Tech, 25-5, in points off of turnovers and 18-4 in fast break points. The game was tied three times early in the contest before EOU made a 14-0 run, separating a 15-14 margin to 29-14 over a 4:30 minute span. McCarthy hit a three-pointer with two seconds remaining in the first half to give Eastern's its largest lead of the first half, 41-22. Eastern led by as many as 26 points twice in the second half.
Dirk Anderson led the OreDiggers (0-2) with 10 points and Kellen Hasquet added nine points. Hasquet added a team-high eight rebounds. Tyree Haynie and AJ Paine each had three assists. Montana Tech finished with 15 assists. The Mountaineers outrebounded Tech, 46-39. EOU committed 12 turnovers, while the OreDiggers had 15.
Earlier in the day, Matt Ballenger scored seven of his game-high 22 points in a 19-3 second half run, as The College of Idaho picked up its first win of the 2010-11 season, defeating Walla Walla University, 64-50, in the opening game of the Quinn Classic.
The win was the first for new C of I head coach Rod Jensen - his first since the 2001-02 season while at Boise State.
Leading just 39-36 with 16:37 remaining in the game, the Coyotes (1-2) held WWU to just one made field goal over an eight minute - blowing the game wide open. Back to back Ballenger buckets pushed the margin to 43-36, and after a Wolves (0-1) trey, a pair of three's by Steve Peres, a Krispin Banks lay-up, and a third triple by Ballenger gave the Yotes a 54-39 lead with ten minutes to go.
It wasn't easy for The C of I, as WWU used an 8-0 run in the first half to take control, pushing the margin to 24-16 on a Josh Henderson three. However, the Yotes forced eight turnovers in the final five minutes of the half, closing the period on a 15-2 run, to grab a 33-28 lead at the break.
Ballenger added a team high seven rebounds, six assists, and four steals in the victory, with Peres scoring 11 points - on 4-of-5 shooting from the floor, including three triples.
The Wolves got 15 points from Tristan Greenidge and seven points and ten rebounds from Jordan Stimmel, but were plagued by 28 turnovers.
Day two of the Quinn Classic begins at 5:30 p.m. Saturday with The College of Idaho facing Montana Tech. The Mountaineers and Walla Walla University square off at 7:30 p.m. in the final game of the 2010-11 edition of the classic. Both games will be video streamed live on EOUSports.com. Live stats are also available.
