Coach Ryan Looney (foreground) implores his Mountaineers to a victory over Evergreen, EOU's 13th consecutive win.
LA GRANDE, Ore. - The Eastern Oregon University men's basketball team (21-5, 14-4 CCC) celebrated their five seniors before their contest with the Evergreen State College (15-10, 11-7 CCC), and celebrated a victory afterwards as they recorded an 86-76 win over the Geoducks.
Eastern struggled in the first half to score and to contain the do it all junior guard from Evergreen Nate Menefee. Menefee scored 20 of the Geoducks 37 first half points and gave Evergreen a 37-34 advantage going into the intermission.
The Mountaineers went into halftime and attempted to make some adjustments, but Evergreen struck first in the second half, leading by ten at one point. Eastern called upon their seniors to carry them down the stretch and they did just that. Neil Fryer was the high point man for the Mounties with 24, while Kris Groce chipped in with twenty of his own, fifteen coming in the second half.
Fellow seniors Paul Carollo and Jeremy Templeton had extremely efficient production. Carollo notched yet another double-double with ten points and eleven rebounds, while Templeton was 3-of-4 from the field and hit both three-point attempts on the night to finish with ten points and four assists.
Down the stretch Eastern Oregon was able to retake the lead and stretch it out with timely shooting from behind the arc. Eastern netted 6-of-12 attempts from the three-point line, and made 16-of-20 free throws in the second half to seal an 86-76 win that was tight down the stretch.
Senior Rickey Lott also saw time in the game and was challenged with having to defend Menefee for stretches at the end of the game. Evergreen's Menefee finished with a game-high 29 points, but was 1-for-7 from the three-point line.
Eastern will now take on the red hot 'Yotes from the College of Idaho this Tuesday, February 17th. The last time these two teams faced off it was the 'Yotes winning in overtime by a score of 85-81. The game will tip-off at 7:30 p.m. PST and will be the final regular season home game for the Mountaineers. On Saturday, February 21st EOU will travel to Eugene, Ore. to take on the Beacons of Northwest Christian College. That game will also start 7:30 p.m. PST.