Kris Groce had a game-high 24 points for the Mountaineers.
Big Second Half Gives Mounties the Edge
LA GRANDE, Ore. - The Eastern Oregon University Mountaineer men (13-5, 6-4 CCC) had a tremendous effort in the second half to defeat the Thunderbirds of Cascade College (10-7, 3-6 CCC) 95-74. Eastern Oregon outscored the T-birds 55-33 in the second half to runaway with the game.
The Mountaineers went back and forth with the T-birds for most of the first half, and trailed by just a point at halftime, 41-40. The Mounties did not have their best defensive effort in that first half, as the T-birds shot 59% from the field and 71% from beyond the arc.
Eastern came out of the locker room and put on quite a performance of their own, holding Cascade to just 39% shooting in the second half, while the Mounties scorched the nets, shooting a blistering 63% in the second half. Five different Mounties notched double figures, led by senior Kris Groce's game-high 24 points.
Junior Jordan Gregg gave Eastern a huge lift off the bench, scoring fifteen points and grabbing a team-high nine rebounds. Senior Neil Fryer, who was in foul trouble most of the first half, finished with thirteen points, all in the second stanza.
Cascade was led by their interior players, as posts Ryan Barker and Erving Adams led their team in both points and rebounds. Barker had fifteen points and six rebounds, while Adams had nineteen points and a game-high ten rebounds.
The Mountaineers will now travel to Portland, Ore. for a pair of Cascade Conference games this weekend. The Mounties will faceoff with the #16 Knights of Warner Pacific College on Friday, January 23rd. The Mounties will then have a rematch with tonight's opponent, the T-birds, on Saturday, January 24th. Both games are scheduled to tip-off at 7:30 p.m. PST.