Eastern Oregon Gets Hot From Deep, Beats Wolves 96-75
Charles Fletcher- Sports Writer
College Place, Wash- Cascade Collegiate Conference Red Lion player of the week Bryan McGriff (20.3 ppg.) and the Eastern Oregon Mountaineers (8-2,1-0) Beat the Wolves by a score of 96-75 here at Windemuth Court on Saturday night. It was the opening game of conference play for the Wolves.
The Wolves' Isaiah Taylor opened the game by sinking a transition three to give the Wolves a 4-0 lead. The Mountaineers, on the other hand, struggled from the field in the opening minutes, missing their first 4 three pointers before Bryan McGriff hit one to give EOU a 7-6 lead. Blake O'donnell and Matt Wong hit back-to-back triples to finally break through the slump from behind the arc and give the Mountaineers a 13-10 lead. A few minutes later, Cole Ashby hit another three to give the Mountaineers the first two-possession lead of the game for either team at 20-16. The Wolves continued to answer with buckets of their own, however, as Stuart Tonack hit a right-handed hook shot off a great spin move to bring the Wolves within three at 23-20 with six minutes remaining in the half. Chad Torkelsen then proceeded to catch fire, hitting three impressive shots from behind the arc in just two minutes, giving the lead back to the Wolves at 33-32. The first half came to a close withthe two teams knotted up in a 35-35 tie.
Bryan McGriff opened the second half on a mission to build his team a lead as he hit two straight triples to give EOU a 41-36 advantage. The Mountaineers continued to put their foot on the gas, as Bryan McGriff scored ten more points in a matter of five minutes to build a 15 point lead at 55-40 with 14 minutes left in the game. Midway through the second half, EOU's Travis Meeker nailed a triple to give the Mountaineers their largest lead of the night at 72-49 and force a Wolves timeout. The Mountaineers shooting from beyond the arc couldn't be stopped in the latter stages of the second half, as Max McCoullough and Brennan Pope hit back-to-back daggers to give EOU a 90-62 lead with four and a half minutes remaining. Eastern Oregon was able to maintain this lead for the rest of the contest, pulling out a 96-75 victory.
Bryan McGriff led the Mountaineers' offense with 23 points, and dominated the boards with 12 rebounds.
The Wolves' attack was led by Chad Torkelsen and Ethan Osias, who tallied 13 points each.
The Wolves have another chance to gain their first win in conference play when they face College of Idaho here at Windemuth Court tomorrow at 3:00p.m.