USUE Press Release
PRICE – Utah State Eastern men’s basketball defeated the Colorado Northwest Spartans 82-75 on Saturday at home. After being on the road for two months, the Eagles finally were able to come back home and play in front of their home crowd.
It started off rough in the first half as the shorthanded Spartans took advantage of the mistakes made by the Eagles.
“We took CNCC for granted and had the wrong approach. We weren’t being aggressive and turned the ball over too much,” said USU Eastern head coach Adjalma Becheli.
With starters Ognjen Pantovic and Blaze Nield in early foul trouble, the Spartans were able to grab a lead in the first half and hold on until halftime.
“Those two guys are very important to our team and they had to sit a lot of the first half,” said Becheli.
Becheli and the Eagles made adjustments at halftime and came out and wore the Spartans down to get back into the game.
“We put in our zone press and sped the game up and that made them tired. When they got tired, they turned the ball over and made mistakes,” said Becheli.
The Spartans hung around the entire second half, playing with only one active player on the bench, and gave the Eagles all they could handle. Up until the final minute of the game, the win could have gone to either team but the Spartans ran out of gas and the Eagles stepped up when they had to.
“We had a couple of good defensive stops that led to easy transition points. We stood our ground because we have to defend our home court,” said USU Eastern sophomore Matija Novkovic.
Another big reason for securing the win in the second half was the play of sophomore forward Chase Berry, who finished the night with 13 points, three rebounds and seven assists.
“He stepped up for us and attacked the basket. He was a factor us in the second half tonight,” said Becheli.
Although he played with foul trouble, Nield led the Eagles with 22 points along with three rebounds and a team-high nine assists.
On the other side, Spartans’ guard Greg Martin led all scorers with 27 points and played a full forty-minute game.
As a team, the Eagles shot 48.4% from the field, 36.4% from three-point range and 82.4% from the free throw line.
“It was a decent performance, but we can do better. We have to play better then we did tonight going forward,” said Novkovic.
The Eagles win on Saturday gives them a 13-6 record overall and a 4-1 home record. Next up for USU Eastern is a match up against nationally-ranked College of Southern Idaho next Saturday at home.
Novkovic said after the game that his team will move on and focus on limiting the powerhouse CSI at what they do well at which is transition scoring. “This week we need to focus on our transition defense and not let them run. We have to try and force them to play half court sets,” said Novkovic.
Saturday’s game against CSI is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. inside the BDAC. The game can be seen on the Scenic West Digital Network and the NJCAA TV app.
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- Photos by Jeff Barrett
