No. 18 EOU Too Much for 11th-Ranked OIT
LA GRANDE, Ore. - The Eastern Oregon University men's team used a 17-5 run after halftime to propel them to a 88-73 win Saturday night over Oregon Tech.
The game featured two top 20 NAIA ranked teams, the 11th ranked Oregon Tech Hustlin' Owls and 17th ranked Eastern (8-1) (2-0).
OIT closed the gap to nine points with 11:00 remaining in regulation. Ryan Fiegi led the Owls with 27 points and nine rebounds. Jquwon Hodges also had 13 points and Mike Nieraeth added 11 points for Tech.
Mark Carollo led Eastern scorers with 22 points along with 12 rebounds. The Mountaineers had four players in double figures Saturday night. Jeremy Templeton had 14 points, Josh Landsverk added 10 points, and Neil Fryer finished with 12 points.
Eastern trailed at the half by one, 35-36, before outscoring OIT, 53-37 in the second half. EOU shot only 32 percent from the field in the first half and finished with a 46 percent field goal percentage.
After being down much of the first half, the Mountaineers had their largest lead of the night at 18 points with 6:00 remaining in regulation.
EOU shot well from behind the perimeter at 39 percent, after making only three of their first 13 shots.
Mountie defense held the Owls well below their 90.2 points per game average, while Eastern was above their 87 points per game average. OIT came into the game only giving up an average of 66 points per game.
The victory marks win number 15 out of the last 16 games at Quinn Coliseum; the lone loss to Warner Pacific on February 3, 78-72.
The Mountaineers have almost two weeks off before facing Walla Walla University (3-5) in La Grande, December 13. Eastern opened the season with a 108-78 victory over Walla Walla on October 25 in Hermiston.