KIRKLAND, Wash. – Eastern Oregon clinched the No. 2 seed for the upcoming CCC Tournament Saturday night with a win over Northwest University. The Mounties rallied behind 28 points from
Phillip Malatare to down the Eagles 95-72. With the win the Mounties end the regular season with a 19-9 record going 16-6 in conference.
The Mounties grabbed an early lead and never looked back starting with a 14-2 run to open the game.
Phillip Malatare steadily poured in buckets throughout the first half going 7-8 from the field for 16 first-half points. At the break EOU led the Eagles, 43-26. With the game in hand Eastern cruised in the second half going up by as much as 27 points with five and a half minutes to go. The trio of
Phillip Malatare,
Emmit Taylor III, and
Malachi Afework combined for 33 second-half points helping the Mounties take a 95-72 win.
Eastern will now shift their sights to the playoffs as the number two seed. Their first matchup will be at home against Oregon Tech on Tuesday, Feb. 21. The quarterfinal tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. in Quinn Coliseum. The Mounties went 2-0 against OIT in the regular season.
BY THE NUMBERS
- With 28 points, Malatare now has three of the top five single game scoring performances by a Mountie this season
- EOU held the advantage inside and out, outscoring the Eagles 46-32 in the paint and 39-30 from deep
- Both teams hauled in nine offensive rebounds, Northwest was the more efficient team on second chance looks outscoring the Mounties 14-8 in that category
STANDOUT PERFORMANCES
- Phillip Malatare: 28 PTS, 12-15 FG, 4-5 3PT, 3 REB, 6 AST,
- Emmit Taylor III: 20 PTS,7-15 FG, 6-11 3PT, 1 Reb, 2 AST, 1 STL
