Ballenger and the Yotes won its third game over a Top-10 team in two seasons Friday.
BOX SCORE
CALDWELL, Idaho – The College of Idaho men’s basketball team picked up a big win over rival No. 8 Eastern Oregon University, 78-68, Friday.
The Yotes (8-10, 5-2 CCC) won their fourth straight game behind 34 points from Matt Ballenger. The junior scored half of C of I’s points as he shot 12 of 21 from the field, including 6 of 12 from behind the perimeter. He added a team-high nine rebounds and nine steals.
The junior, who had eight steals in a win over Concordia last Saturday, broke the single-game school record he shared with current assistant, Matt Muniz, Joe Green, and Richard Reed. Ballenger has 22 steals in the past three games.
The Mountaineers (13-3, 5-2) fell for the first time this season when they outrebounded their opponent, had their bench outscore the opponents’ bench, and led at halftime. The C of I also became the first team this season to shoot 50 percent from the field against EOU. The Yotes finished 50 percent from the field and 28 percent from three-point range.
EOU led by as many as five in the second half and held a 47-46 lead on a Thomas McCarthy trey with 12:36 remaining in the game, but were held without a field goal for nearly eight minutes, as the Yotes used a 14-2 push to take a 60-49 lead – and salted the win by hitting 10-of-12 from the line in the final two minutes.
The C of I win ended a three game win streak in the series for EOU. The last Mountaineer loss in the series came on Jan. 6, 2009, in Caldwell. Eastern had won seven of the previous eight meetings. EOU has now won three of its last six games in the J.A. Alberston Activities Center against the Yotes.
Jamar Johnson scored a team-high 15 points to lead the Mountaineers. Jeff Ranstrom finished with his third double-double of the season with 12 points and 13 rebounds. Thomas McCarthy and Anthony Brown each added 10 points off of the bench. Eastern’s bench outscored C of I's bench, 32-17. Cody Thurmond had five assists.
The Mountaineers shot 37 percent from the field and made 8 of their 25 three-point attempts. EOU was 20 of 30 from the free throw line. The Yotes outscored Eastern Oregon, 38-18, in points in the paint and 16-8 in points off of turnovers. The Mountaineers had a 17-3 advantage in second chance points. C of I had 20 assists to Eastern’s 12.
Miguel Rodriguez added 11 points and threw a game-high six assists for C of I. Krispin Banks and Kelly McCarty each finished with ten points respectively. It was the first victory in nine games this season versus a nationally-ranked foe for the Yotes. The College of Idaho now has three wins over a Top-10 team over the past two seasons.
Next Friday, Eastern travels to Northwest Christian for its next game and The College of Idaho will play at Corban University.