LA GRANDE, Ore. – The Eastern Oregon University men's basketball team sliced a 14-point halftime deficit down to two with just under 14 minutes left to play, but the Mountaineers' effort came up short on Senior Night against (RV) Warner Pacific, 88-77.

EOU struggled from the field, hitting just 36.5 percent (27-for-74) of its shots on the evening, while Warner Pacific nailed eight three's to steal one at Quinn Coliseum.

KEY PERFORMANCES
Junior guard Kentrell Washington (26 points, 10 rebounds) and senior center Kalvin Johanson (23 points, 11 rebounds) carried the load offensively for EOU, as they both registered double-doubles.

Warner Pacific was led by Earl Jones' 27 points on 9-for-17 shooting.

THE STORYLINE
After Warner Pacific (17-8, 12-4 CCC) snatched an early 7-2 advantage, Johanson took over, as the Washington native netted 14 points amidst an 18-6 run to put the Mountaineers on top, 20-13, with 13:26 left in the first half.

However, the Knights responded with a run of their own, nailing four three's in a 21-2 burst to claim a 12-point (34-22) advantage at the 6:41 mark of the stanza. An and-one by senior center Christian Parrott sparked a 12-6 burst to cut the deficit to eight (44-36), but that would be as close as the Mountaineers would get before trailing by 14 (51-37) at the break.

EOU (14-13, 9-8 CCC) opened the second stanza with a couple of jumpers by Washington and a pair of triples by senior guard Case Rada to close the gap to four (51-47) with 15:32 left. Parrott checked in and immediately netted four-straight points to cut the deficit to two (55-53), but the Mountaineers missed seven of their next 10 shots to fall behind by 13 (73-60) with 7:26 left.

Junior wing Travis Meeker buried one from downtown, and then Johanson capped a three-point play the old-fashioned way to bring EOU to within nine (81-72) with 2:44 on the clock. However, the Knights responded with four-straight points to keep the Mountaineers at bay.

STATS OF THE GAME
4 – EOU shot just 18.2 percent (4-for-22) from three-point range, and the Mountaineers recorded its lowest three-point field-goal tally since Dec. 19, 2015 when they nailed two against Northwest Christian.  
36 – The three seniors (Rada, Parrott, Johanson) combined for 36 points in their final game at Quinn Coliseum.  

UP NEXT
EOU travels to Ashland, Ore., to battle Southern Oregon. Tipoff on Feb. 13 is set for 7:30 p.m.