The early struggles continued for the USU-Eastern Eagles men’s basketball team as its losing skid extended to four games with back-to-back home losses Friday and Saturday at the B-DAC.

Despite holding a lead for the majority of the first half, the Eagles fell of pace and suffered an 82-65 loss to No. 23 Arizona Western on Friday. The following night the Eagles squandered a double-digit second half lead in a 79-78 setback to Treasure Valley Community College.

Freshman Quinn Peters scored a team best 18 points and handed out five assists in Friday’s setback. Roman McNight chipped in with 12 points, while Milan Surlic’ and Cam Bailey finished with 11.

Though four players reached double-figures the Eagles shot a pedestrian 37-percent from the field, and only 27-percent from the three-point line. Adding to the struggles offensively, the team finished 22-34 from the foul line with several untimely misses coming in the second half.

USU-Eastern improved their shooting performance Saturday night against Treasure Valley, but it wasn’t enough as the team suffered their second one possession loss in three games. Despite shooting 51-percent from the field, the Eagles ended 60-percent from the foul line. USU-Eastern also lost the turnover battled 17-8.

Koel Cutler led a balanced offensive effort with 14 points off of the bench. Surlic’ once again posted double-figures with 13 points, nine of which came from the three-point line. Bailey scored 11 points, but struggled from the field converting just four of 13 attempts.

The two home losses drop the Eagles to 2-6 in non-conference play, and 0-2 at home. The team will have a chance to get back on track as they head to Wyoming for two games in two days on Friday and Saturday against Western Wyoming and Laramie County.

USU-Eastern will return home following the Wyoming road trip for a set of games on Dec. 2 and 3. Only six games remain on the non-conference slate before league action begins on Thursday, Jan. 6 against Salt Lake Community College.