The USU-Eastern Eagles men’s basketball team suffered back-to-back losses against Central Wyoming and Casper as they opened the brand new season on the road Friday and Saturday in Casper, Wyo.

Freshman Quinn Peters scored a game-high 27 points and handed out five assists in a losing effort as the Eagles dropped their season opener to Central Wyoming 73-63 Friday night.

USU-Eastern struggled in the first half of the first game, falling behind 40-29 at the break. The slight edge in the second went to the Eagles as they outscored Central Wyoming 34-33, but could not overcome the double-digit deficit.

While both teams shot near the 44-percent mark for the contest, Central Wyoming held a hefty advantage from beyond the three-point line. Knocking down three-times as many threes for the contest, Central Wyoming also shot 17 more free throws in the win.

The Eagles returned to the court the following day, this time falling to No. 21 Casper on their home court by a final score of 79-68, despite holding a comfortable nine point half time advantage.

Roman McNight delivered a double-double for the Eagles scoring 10 points and grabbing 13 boards. Milan Surlic finished with 15 points and sophomore Cam Bailey chipped in with 14 points in the loss.

Once again the Eagles were dealt the short end of the a lopsided free throw statistic that had Casper shooting 30 compared to 12. USU-Eastern finished the game with 20 turnovers, five of which were committed by Nico Schapochnik in a reserve effort.

The team will look to notch their first victory of the season Thursday as they travel to Arizona for four games in four days. The trip will begin with a match up against Chandler Gilbert, followed by Scottsdale, Mesa and Pima, all in consecutive days.