By Cory McKendrick, USU Eastern Sports Information Contributor
The Utah State University Eastern men’s basketball team traveled to Ephraim to play the Snow College Badgers on Thursday. The Eagles’ start of a long road trip unfortunately got off on the wrong foot as they lost to the Badgers 80-66.
Payton Falslev scored a team high 18 points for the Eagles, shooting 6-12 from the field and 3-7 from three-point land. Turahn Thompson also added 12 points in the game. Donoval Avila Jr. closed in on a triple double with 12 points, eight rebounds and five assists.
The first half got the Eagles in a hole and they couldn’t quite battle out of it, though they kept within striking distance for the first 30 minutes of the game. It got a little more out of hand with about 10 minutes remaining in the second half.
Head coach Adjalma Becheli said post game: “I thought we played good basketball for 30 minutes of the game. We played good defense in order to stop transition and our defense led to offense. Turnovers were costly in the final 10 minutes as well as the three-point baskets from Snow.”
The Eagles will be back in action on the road again as they take on the Colorado Northwestern Community College (CNCC) Spartans in Scenic West Athletic Conference play. The Eagles move to 3-6 in conference and will rely on a win this Saturday at CNCC and a win the following weekend against the College of Southern Idaho to help secure their spot in the conference tournament bracket.