Photo by Jeff Barrett
By Cory McKendrick, USU Eastern Sports Information Contributor
The Utah State University Eastern men’s basketball team battled the Salt Lake Community College Bruins at the Bruin Event Center in Taylorsville on Thursday night in a Scenic West Athletic Conference showdown. The Eagles fell to the Bruins 69-55. A late run by SLCC gave them the edge in the second half.
It was a back and forth battle between the Eagles and the Bruins until about seven minutes left in the second half. SLCC went on a 10-2 run as the USU Eastern offense went cold. Prior to the run, the Eagles had the lead at points in the second half. This run proved to be the difference maker in the game as Eastern could not mount a comeback after the deficit happened.
Turahn Thompson had another career night with 17 points, 10 rebounds and two assists, good for a double-double. Scoring outside of Thompson was pretty spread for the Eagles. Dillon Sorenson had 10 points for the next high.
The story of the game was likely the neutralization of the inside presence for the USU Eastern big men. Between four power forwards and centers, typically they account for a good chunk of scoring. Christian Haffner, who is the leading scorer on the season for the Eagles, was also kept at bay this game.
Assistant coach Ray Jones had this to say post game: “Obviously, we were disappointed with the results. We would have loved to shoot a bit better and cut out some defensive errors, but still our guys fought hard and we just couldn’t pull out the win.”
The Eagles will be back on the court Thursday, Feb. 13 as they take on the Snow College Badgers from the Horne Activity Center. The team moves to 3-5 in conference and 12-12 overall with the loss. The Eagles will have another chance against the Bruins on sophomore night at the end of February.