LA GRANDE, Ore. – The Eastern Oregon University men's basketball team tied a seasons best record by hitting 15 three-pointers, led by
Bryan McGriff's six, en route to a 100-82 victory over Northwest University on Saturday evening at Quinn Coliseum.
McGriff led all scorers with 34 points. He also collected 10 rebounds for third consecutive double-double.
De'Sean Mattox followed with 26 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds.
Deonta Edwards rounded out the double-figure scorers for EOU with 19. Nemanja Grujicic led the Northwest University Eagle's with 25 points.
The Mountaineers' offense got off to a quick start, and never looked back, as they scored the first eight points of the game to lead, 8-0. The Eagles slowly started to chip away and answered with a 6-0 run to trail by two, 8-6, with 15:39 left in the half.
EOU slowly started to pull away and found themselves ahead, 18-8, after a
Case Rada three-pointer. Northwest would not go away quietly as they trimmed the lead back to five points, 23-18, after a CJ Carter three.
Eastern Oregon answered right back and extended their lead back to double-digits, 29-18, after a McGriff three-pointer. After taking the double-figure lead, EOU grew the lead to 16 points, 53-37, with 40 seconds to go before half. The Eagles scored one more bucket and trailed, 53-39, at halftime.
Early in the second half, EOU extended their lead to 18 points, 60-42, after a Mattox layup. The Eagles would not go away quietly and slowly started to make a comeback. Northwest answered by going on a 16-6 run, to trim EOU's lead down to 66-58 with 12:37 left in the second half.
The Eagles trimmed Eastern's lead down to six points, 70-64, after a Dak Shagren three pointer. The Mountaineers had an answer, and grew the lead back to 12 points, 83-71, with 6:36 left in the game.
Northwest could not continue the momentum and EOU slowly extended their lead back to 19 points, 98-79, before winning the game, 100-82.
EOU returns to action next Saturday, Dec. 13 when they play Multnomah University at 2 p.m. PT in Quinn Coliseum. Northwest returns to action on Dec. 13 against Quest University.