La Grande, Ore. – (Release from Eastern Oregon University Athletics) Eastern Oregon University earned their payback picking up a win over Corban on Saturday afternoon to split with Corban in the regular season. Eastern led from tipoff to the final horn taking an 81-58 victory over the Warriors. With the win the Mounties advance to 17-9 overall and 14-8 in CCC play while Corban drops 17-9 overall and 13-7 in conference action. The win officially moved Eastern into a second place tie with Warner Pacific in the conference standings.
The first half started with a Mountie run as EOU jumped up 15-4 after a Justin Jeske jumper with just over 13 minutes to go. Corban battled their way back into it coming within two thanks to a Mateo Escheik Jumper with eight minutes to go and then again with a James Carlson layup a minute later. That was the closest Corban got as the Mounties added some extra padding as time wound down in the first half. An Andre Huddleston jumper at the buzzer put the Mounties up six, 31-25 going into the break.
In the second half, EOU relied on Phillip Malatare and Adam Orr to pull away. The duo combined for 21 down the stretch on a combined 6-8 shooting. Orr scored all 11 of his points in a five minute span pushing the lead to 19 at the end of his scoring flurry making it 61-42 with 9:35 to go. Mateo Escheik and Andrew Stafford did their best to keep Corban in it with seven points each, but it wasn’t enough as EOU outscored Corban 50-33 in the second half to secure the win.
The Mounties will wrap up the regular season on the road taking on Evergreen State and Northwest next weekend. Tipoff against the Geoducks is set for 7:30 p.m. in Olympia, Wash. on Friday night.
