By Castle Country Radio
The USU Eastern men’s basketball season came to an end on Friday at the hands of the No. 1 team in the nation, the Salt Lake Community College Bruins, on their home floor as the Bruins hosted the SWAC conference championships. The Eagles struggled with the Bruins just like they had in every meeting this season. Salt Lake took command early and never let up, closing the books on the Eagles’ season 95-61.
Eastern earned a spot in the semi-finals by defeating the College of Southern Nevada 70-45 on Thursday. The Bruins earned the No. 1 seed in the tournament and a first round bye, so the game with the Eagles was their tournament debut. There was no rust on Salt Lake and they started quickly.
USU Eastern never led in this game. In fact, they were unable to put any points on the board until three minutes into the first half. The Eagles committed 16 of their 28 turnovers in the half and the Bruins turned those turnovers into 38 points in the contest.
In the second half, the Bruins came out firing once again. Quincy McGriff scored 10 of his 13 points and Marion Humphrey eight of his 21, pushing the lead to as high as 41 in the closing minutes.
Kurt Wegscheider and Dillon Sorenson both scored 13 points in the loss for USU Eastern. Payton Falslev added eight, Malek Malual seven and Obenga Olubi six off the bench for the Eagles.
USU Eastern ended its season with an overall record of 18-12 and a conference record of 9-9.