LA GRANDE, Ore. - The Eastern Oregon University Men's Basketball team hosted Oregon Tech in Quinn Coliseum this weekend. The Mounties split the weekend series with the Owls, dropping game one, but finished the weekend with a win and a buzzer beater by Max McCullough. The split puts the Mountaineers overall record at 7-5 and and 3-3 in conference play.
 
Game 1 – EOU 81 OIT 87
How It Happened:
• Four Mountaineers scored in double figures in the loss against the Owls (6-2, 6-2 CCC) despite leading by 18-points midway through the first and second half. McCullough, who played the entire game, led EOU with 14 first-half points, finishing the night with 22 points overall.
• The Mounties started the game hot with some help from Zane Wright. Wright himself went on a 7-0 run in a matter of 90 seconds, making it a 12-0 run for the Mounties six minutes into the first half. The Owls started showing life towards the end of the first, making it a 10-point game going into break. The Owls only shot 41.9% in the first half compared to Eastern's 62.5% but kept the game within reach by making multiple trips to the foul line.
• In the second half, the Mounties built upon their 10-point lead by going on a 16-8 run. At one point, EOU lead by a total of 19 points before the OIT started chipping away. A bucket by Jamison Guerra at the 7:40 mark made it 67-67. From there the game was back and forth until the Mounties were forced to commit a few late fouls in order to keep the Owls within their grasp. Alas, OIT was able to come out on top winning 87-81. The Owls had five players score in double-digits, led by Kellen Gerrig who finished with 18 points, 6 rebounds.
 
Mountaineer Stat Leaders
• Four Mountaineers put up double digits, Max McCullough had a game-high 22 points, Zane Wright had 18, Justin Jeske with 17, and Paul Pennington with 14.
• Jeske was two rebounds away from a double-double, shot 70% from the field (7-10) to finish with 17 points and eight rebounds.
• Along with his 14 points, Pennington also added five assists, four rebounds and two steals to his stat line.
• Zane Wright shot 50% beyond the arc, on a 3-6 shooting performance, shooting 7-11 FG overall. 
 
Game 2 – EOU 90 OIT 87
How It Happened:
• The Mounties came back with a vengeance after dropping a game at home to OIT the day before. Once again, EOU jumped out to a 7-0 run with a couple of big threes by Brandon Porter to give EOU the edge over the Owls. However, unlike the game prior the Owls didn't wait to make their comeback and went on a 16-5 run to get back into the ball game. From that point on both teams traded baskets back and forth and the margin was never larger than eight points for either squad. With a few free throws from Zane Wright, EOU captured the lead 41 – 36 before going into the break. The first half difference maker for the Mountaineers was the 11 out of 15 free throws made (73%) while the Owls only had two free throw attempts and missed both. Max McCullough led EOU with 12 first half points, while Justin Jeske added 11 points and five rebounds. For the Owls Keegan Shivers had nine points in the first half. 
• Starting the second half, the lead fluctuated for the Mounties, but they were able to increase it to eight with 7:44 to go. With enough time on the clock OIT started chipping away with defensive stops and points in the paint to bring it within one around the five-minute mark. As the clock dwindled the Mounties were able to find the bottom of the net and make it a seven-point ball game with just a little over two minutes to go. Of course, the Owls came flying in. EOU in an attempt to disrupt the flow for the Owls, committed two fouls to send OIT to the line. And OIT, in an attempt to create more scoring opportunities, started fouling to force EOU's hand. Four timeouts were called within the last 70 seconds of the game.
• With 13 seconds left, 85-84 ball game, EOU with the lead and the possession, Head Coach Carlito Labarda Jr. calls a final timeout. Coming out of the huddle OIT's Harrison Steiger immediately commits a foul sending Max McCullough to the line. McCullough, a seasoned veteran in these moments, steps up to the free throw line with ice in his veins and sinks both, 87-84 EOU. OIT with 12 seconds left pushes the ball up to Keegan Shivers who pulls up beyond the arc with five seconds left and nails the contested three-pointer to tie the ball game 87-87 with five seconds left. No timeout called, EOU takes the ball out of bounds and gets it into the hands of none other than Max McCullough. McCullough catches the ball in the backcourt, 5 seconds left, he weaves his way through multiple OIT defenders, 4, before pulling up for a last second shot just across half court, 3, a shot you practice with your buddies when no one is around, 2, the gym goes silent as the ball makes its way through the air and just before time expires, 1, the ball banks in, the buzzer sounds, crowd goes wild, EOU beats OIT 90-87 on a game-winning shot by Max McCullough!! The Mountaineers stormed the court to join their team in celebration.
 
Mountaineer Stat Leaders
• Five players scored in double figures for the Mounties. Max McCullough led all scorers with 28 points, seven rebounds, seven assists, shooting 11-19 on the night. 
• McCullough was supported by Preston Chandler, who scored 17 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Chandler was 7-11 from the free-throw line.
• Brandon Porter scored 16 points and grabbed six rebounds. Justin Jeske added 13 points, and Zane Wright contributed 12 on a 4-8 shooting night, going 2-5 beyond the arc.
 
By The Numbers
5 – EOU ranks in the top-10 for NAIA in five different categories:
5^th in free throw pct (78.5%), 6^th in 3-pt FG pct (40.9%), 6^th in scoring offense per game (91.167), 7^th in assist/turnover ratio (1.500) and 10^th assists per game (18.250).  
4 – Zane Wright ranks number 4 in Division I in 3-pt FG made per game with an average of 3.750.
8 - Justin Jeske ranks number 8 in field goal pct shooting 66.7%
2 - This is Max McCullough's second game winner of the year.
 
Up Next
• EOU will travel to Eugene, Oregon this upcoming weekend to face the Bushnell Beacons in a CCC match up. You can follow all the news and upcoming events at EOUsports.com

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