LA GRANDE, Ore. – Tony Eackles Jr. lead the Eastern Oregon University men’s basketball team to its fifth straight win and a 115-105 victory over Multnomah University on Friday afternoon. Eackles scored a game-high 34 points.
Four seconds into the game Craig Tucker hit a jumper putting the Mountaineers ahead 2-0. After that bucket both teams did not score for two and a half minutes, until Eackles recorded a layup to put the Mountaineers ahead 4-0.
However, Multnomah continued to battle and took an 8-6 lead over EOU. The lead did not last long as Trevor Phillips tied the game at 8-8 on a jumper. The Lions and Mountaineers continued to trade leads as a three pointer by Phillips gave EOU a one point lead, 16-15. The lead lasted nine seconds as David Walker came down and hit a jumper giving Multnomah a lead at 17-16, 13 minutes before halftime.
After a Tavin Hurley jumper, EOU found themselves down 19-18. At this point the Lions took a six point lead, 25-19, before EOU scored another point. The Lions continued to extend their lead to, 30-21, before EOU started to mount a comeback. Eastern Oregon cut the Lions lead to one point, 32-31, before Multnomah started to build another lead.
Multnomah built its lead back up to eight points, 39-31, before the Mountaineers started a comeback. The Mountaineers took a 41-39 lead after a Kevin Attila three pointer. Eastern Oregon built a four point lead at halftime, 47-43, after Craig Tucker hit a half-court shot.
After halftime the Mountaineers continued to build on its lead to 18 points, 64-46, on a Kalvin Johanson tip in. EOU continued to extend its lead and it grew to, 73-52, after a three pointer by Deonta Edwards with 14:30 left in the game.
With the Mountaineers ahead by 21, the Lions started to make a comeback. Multnomah started to chip away at the lead and continued to trim it down to as low as 14 points after an Erik Mendoza layup. The Lions were not done and trimmed the Mountaineers lead to nine, 98-89, after a Kristoff Thande free throw.
Multnomah would not go away easily as they found themselves down three points, 102-99, after a pair of free throws by Thande. Eastern Oregon answered right back and grew its lead back to as many as ten points. The Mountaineers claimed the victory 115-105.
EOU returns to action tomorrow afternoon at 4 p.m. when they face Multnomah University.