Photo by Jeff Barrett
By
The Utah State Eastern Eagles men’s basketball team started the season this weekend with back-to-back games in Taylorsville, Utah. The first of those games played was against Jump Start Academy. In this game, after a slow start, the Eagles were able to jump out to a lead in the second half to secure the win 109-71.
The Eagles got big contributions from several players in this game as there were five of them that ended in double figure scoring. Peyton Falslev led the way with a total of 23 points, followed by Kurt Wegscheider and Isaac Castagnetto, both totaling 13 points.
Castagnetto also tied for a team high seven rebounds with teammate Gbenga Olubi. Even though the Eagles were able to score the ball well, the real separation in the game came when the Eagles forced Jump Start to a total of 23 turnovers.
“It was nice to get the first one under the belt and to get a glimpse of what our team is about,” said head coach Bill Evans.
After a successful Friday night, the Eagles had to get right back to it Saturday afternoon as they took on the 24th ranked Plainsmen of Northeastern Junior College. In this game, the Eagles struggled on the boards as Northeastern out rebounded them 46-25.
However, as in the first game of the weekend, it was the turnover battle that helped USUE secure the victory. They were able to force the Plainsmen into 22 turnovers. After a back-and-forth first half, USUE was able to surge ahead midway through the second half and never look back. The Eagles were able to get the victory by a score of 68-61.
“It is always nice to win, but there are definitely areas that we need to improve and we are going to always look to get better,” said Coach Evans after the hard-fought battle to end the weekend.
USUE will have another tough task ahead of them as their next game is this coming Tuesday, Nov. 9, against the #1 team in the country in Salt Lake Community College. That game will be played in Price with tipoff at 7 p.m.