By Loren Miller, USU Eastern Sports Information:
PRICE – Utah State Eastern men’s basketball defeated the Western Wyoming Mustangs 80-78 on Friday in Ephraim.
With 12 freshman and only two returners from last year’s squad the new look Eagles struggled in the beginning of the game.
The Eagles fell behind early in the first half and were down as much as 13 points to the Mustangs.
“We missed a lot of easy shots and turned the ball over too much and Western Wyoming took advantage of that and scored some easy baskets on us,” said USU Eastern Head Coach Vando Becheli.
USU Eastern would slowly climb back in the game with help from their bench.
Freshmen David Andrew and Keon Berghout would come off the bench to score a combined 16 points.
“They both hit some big shots for us especially with David’s back to back threes. Keon was effective on both sides of the court especially on defense with rebounding,” said Becheli.
The Eagles would cut the lead to one with four minutes left in the half before the Mustangs would extend their lead to 47-39 at halftime.
The Mustangs would come out in the second half on a 8-2 run and end up leading by 14 points.
USU Eastern would slowly get back into the game and would eventually take the lead with just under nine minutes left thanks to solid rebounding and intensity on the defensive end.
“We played with more energy which led to transition points for us. We got stops, and started to cut into their lead with that same intensity,” said USU Eastern guard Tanner Nygren.
The Eagles also got some big plays out of starting point guard Blaze Nield down the stretch to help the Eagles take the lead.
“He shot well from the field and handled the pressure well while not turning the ball over,” said Becheli.
Nield would finish the game as the Eagles top scorer with 26 points.
After the game was tied 69-69 with less than six minutes remaining, the Eagles would go back and forth with the Mustangs exchanging multiple leads.
“We had to execute. Offensively we took care of the ball, and defensively we got some big stops and forced turnovers. We played together as a team,” said Nygren.
The Eagles would prevail in the final minutes of the game to get their first win of the season.
With all the new players on the team and players returning from injury, the team was glad to get things started on the right foot this season.
“It feels great, we got the first one down and now we’re ready to keep it rolling,” said Nygren.
Saturday the Eagles will take on Northwest College at 1 p.m. in Ephraim. Fans can watch the game live on the Scenic West Digital Network or the SnowTV YouTube channel.