Photo by Jeff Barrett
By Easton Ralphs, USU Eastern Athletics
After a long two-week break due to the holidays, the Eagles were back on the hardwood to take on the Colorado Northwestern Community College (CNCC) Spartans. The Eagles ultimately got their revenge as they earned the much-needed road win, 76-57.
It was a back-and-forth affair and at halftime USU Eastern was down by a few points. However, a different team that took care of the ball and forced the Spartans into turnovers was the one that exited the locker room for the second half.
The Eagles were led in the scoring department by sophomore Kurt Wegscheider. He finished the game with a game high of 23 points. Peyton Falslev and Kevin Bethel each added double figure points to the effort.
However, it wasn’t so much about who scored the points for the Eagles but how they did it. The USU Eastern men’s team shot an outstanding 70% from the field in the second half, allowing them to pull away and never look back.
Part of the reason for the high shooting percentage were the shots they were creating with their defense. The Eagles were led by Malek Malual in the steal department as he had five rips with Kevin Bethel adding four. With those steals and a few others, the Eagles forced CNCC into a total of 20 turnovers. This was the reason the Eagles were able to pull away in a tough conference road game.
USU Eastern men’s basketball will be back home on Saturday, Jan. 8 to take on Utah Peaks Prep for a little non-conference action. The game will tipoff at 3 p.m. in the Bunnell Dmitrich Athletic Center.