Press Release
Utah State Eastern mens basketball went 1-1 in the CSI Wright Physical Therapy Shootout in Twin Falls, Idaho on Friday and Saturday.
On Friday, the Eagles lost to Treasure Valley Community College 90-78, snapping a two-game winning streak. Despite shooting 42% from long distance, head coach Vando Becheli said his team played sloppy without a sense of urgency, which ultimately cost his team a chance to win the game.
“We turned the ball over so many times and that cost us the game,” said Becheli.
Becheli also said that his team wasn’t aggressive enough against TVCC, which is something he said didn’t help on Friday night.
“They made more free throws than we attempted and that shows you that we were not aggressive enough,” said Becheli.
The Eagles were 9-16 and TVCC was 15-22 at the from the free-throw line Friday night.
In the loss, sophomore guard Kristupas Totoris led the Eagles with 20 points despite being in foul trouble during most of the game.
Sophomore Nico Rojas added 10 points and six rebounds against TVCC. Milan Surlic’ also contributed with 10 points, five assists, three steals and three rebounds on Friday. Coming off the bench, freshman forward Carson Bischoff scored 13 points, 6 rebounds and 3 steals.
Becheli’s Eagles would rebound the next night in a big way defensively and defeat Columbia Basin 121-73
USU Eastern gave up only 23 points in the first half, something that Becheli said happened because of the way his team approached the game. The Eagles outrebounded 55-21 and had 14 more assists than Columbia Basin, which Becheli thought was an improvement from the night before.
“That’s the way we want to play, we shared the ball, scored in transition and pushed the ball inside,” said Becheli.
Stepping up for the Eagles against Columbia Basin was sophomore Neema Namdar. He finished the game with 17 points, eight rebounds and four assists. Namdar made his second start of the season on Saturday in place of Landon Schwartz, who missed the game due to injury.
According to Namdar, the Eagles pulled it together and brought the intensity in Saturday’s game, something that he felt was missing from Friday’s game.
“Everyone was focused and we brought the intensity we had in practice and shoot around. That helped our defense which brought the offense,” said Namdar.
Sophomore Petr Ropek led the Eagles in scoring against Columbia Basin coming off the bench. He scored a season-high 19 points and three rebounds on Saturday. Freshman Ivan Chmyrenko added 11 points, five rebounds and two assists off the bench.
Overall, seven different players scored in double figures on Saturday night. With the win on Saturday, the Eagles now have a 3-3 overall record in non-conference play.
They will head to Rock Springs, Wyoming this Friday after Thanksgiving for the Mustang Invitational where they will play two teams they have already played against this season. The Eagles will play Western Wyoming on Friday, a team they scrimmaged in a jamboree last month. On Saturday, they will take on Central Wyoming who they lost to in the first game of the season in Casper by a score of 90-65.
Becheli said that this weekend could give a boost of confidence to his team heading into December and conference play.
“If we beat these teams, we are very capable of ending the semester without losing and it would give everyone confidence going into conference play,” said Becheli.
The Eagles will have three more weeks of non-conference tournaments in December before hosting Salt Lake Community College on Jan. 6 in the conference opener.