Photos by Jeff Barrett
By Jordan Buscarini
Three USU Eastern players reached double figures as the Eagles stormed past the Colorado Northwestern Spartans 92-80 Saturday afternoon at the BDAC in Price.
Jesse White scored 12 of his 14 points in the second half as the Eagles held off a second half run from the Spartans to secure their second straight conference victory.
“You’ve got to give Colorado credit. You get them down and we couldn’t put them away,” said head coach Bill Evans. “I think we went through stretches where we took better care of the basketball to make plays for teammates and that was a big positive.”
Peter Filipovity once again led the team in scoring as he finished with a game-high 18 points to go along with four rebounds. Dontrell Hewlett helped push the offense as he too ended with 14 points on an efficient 4-6 shooting performance.
While the lead switched hands five times early, the Eagles answered a one-point deficit with a 12-3 run to end the first half. Holding a 42-33 lead at the break, USU Eastern never trailed over the final 20 minutes despite several runs from the Spartans.
A total of 11 players scored at least two points as the Eagles delivered a balanced offensive attack. The team shot a highly impressive 62.2 percent from the field in the win.
“We are getting better, but I wasn’t thrilled with our defense,” said Evans. “In stretches, we played pretty dang good. But, we allowed them to shoot 48 percent from the field and that’s the highest percentage we’ve allowed this year.”
Azarien Stephens led Colorado Northwestern with 17 points, 12 of which came from beyond the three-point line. Rhaven Brown, Trevon Cason and Chuol Deng-Wal all scored 13.
Saturday’s win moves USU Eastern to 4-6 in conference play and gives the Eagles a 2-1 regular season edge over the Spartans.
The season will continue on Thursday night as the Eagles wrap up the three-game home stand against the College of Southern Idaho. Despite two close calls, USU Eastern came up short in both meetings in Twin Falls, Idaho.
