LA GRANDE, Ore. – After a tough loss the previous night, Eastern Oregon bounced back with an impressive 95-67 victory over Bushnell on Saturday night in front of a home crowd.
The game started as a back-and-forth affair, but midway through the first half, Eastern Oregon found their rhythm.
Isaiah Jones sparked a 7-0 run, assisted by
Eamon Monahan, which helped the Mountaineers pull away. From that point, the Beacon offense struggled to keep up, scoring just eleven points for the rest of the half. Eastern continued to extend their lead, finishing the half with a 13-point advantage.
In the second half, Bushnell fought back, but their efforts couldn't overcome the Mountaineers' early dominance. While the Beacons managed 37 points in the second half, Eastern nearly tripled their three-point output, shooting 19 two-point field goals compared to Bushnell's 13. This gave the Mountaineers a commanding lead that was too large for Bushnell to recover from.
Eastern's shooting performance was a major improvement over their loss to Corban the previous night. As a team, the Mounties shot a stellar 53.7% from the field, with four players shooting over 50%. They also hit 45.2% from three-point range and went a near-perfect 9-of-10 from the free-throw line. On defense, Eastern held the Beacons to just 39.7% shooting, limiting them to five three-pointers.
James Bodily led the Mountaineers with 20 points on an efficient 87.5% shooting, including four three-pointers. He also went a perfect 2-for-2 from the free-throw line and grabbed two steals. Four other Mountaineers scored in double digits, with
Keilan Torkornoo finishing just two rebounds shy of a double-double.
Isaiah Jones was also effective, contributing 11 points on 80% shooting, along with two steals and a perfect 2-for-2 at the line.
Cole Hammack added 15 points, shooting 83% from the field—all of which came from beyond the arc.
Bushnell's Kaleb Burnett led all scorers with 27 points, shooting 63.2% from the field and hitting 2-of-2 from the free-throw line while pulling down 5 rebounds.
With the win, Eastern Oregon improves to 13-5 overall and 8-2 in conference play, while Bushnell falls to 8-9 overall and 5-5 in CCC action.
The Mountaineers will be back in action on Friday, January 23, when they travel to College Place, Washington, to face Walla Walla University at 2:00 PM.
