LA GRANDE, Ore. – CCC play kicked off for the Mountaineers Friday night as they took on the Hustlin' Owls of Oregon Tech at home in Quinn Coliseum. Eastern had the hot hand from beyond the arc shooting 64 percent on 25 attempts helping them pull away for the 88-73 victory. The win moves Eastern to 4-3 on the year while OIT drops to 3-3.
Oregon Tech came out on the attack to start the evening holding a lead midway through the first half. A
Malachi Afework three-pointer tied it up at 18 with nine minutes to go making it a fresh ball game. From that point on the Mountaineers never trailed the rest of the game. Eastern extended its lead all the way up to seven before the Owls made a comeback in the second half tying it up at 48. That was the closest the Owls could get to a lead as time ticked down in the second half. Consistent outside shooting slowly built the Mounties' lead as they hovered around a 10-point lead down the stretch. As the final minutes and seconds came off the clock EOU relied on its free throw shooting to seal the deal going 9-10 in the final two minutes.
Eastern will continue their homestand tomorrow afternoon taking on the Raiders of Southern Oregon University for their second CCC game of the season. Tipoff is set for 5 p.m. in Quinn Coliseum. The Hustlin' Owls will continue on down I-84 to take on the College of Idaho with tipoff set for 5 p.m. MST.
BY THE NUMBERS
- Eastern Oregon had one of their best games from beyond the arc all year going 16-25 for the game and a very efficient 12-14 in the second half
- EOU forced the Hustlin' Owls into 17 turnovers as the Mounties racked up 10 steals compared to OIT's 3
- Oregon Tech dominated inside scoring 38 points in the paint compared to EOU's 14
STANDOUT PERFORMANCES
- EOU
- Phillip Malatare: 18 PTS, 5-15 FG, 7 REB, 3 AST, 2 STL
- Solomon McGinnis: 17 PTS, 6-10 FG, 5-5 3PT, 3 AST, 2 REB
- AJ Huddleston: 16 PTS, 5-10 FG, 4-6 3PT, 3 REB, 3 AST, 2 STL
- OIT
- Erik Fraser: 21 PTS, 7-11 FG, 3-5 3PT, 8 REB, 1 BLK
- Keegan Shivers: 18 PTS, 5-11 FG, 7 REB, 3 AST, 1 STL
- Joey Potts: 14 PTS, 5-7 FG, 1-2 3PT, 5 REB, 4 BLK, 1 AST, 1 STL
