Stock Photo by Jeff Barrett

The USU Eastern men’s basketball squad opened up Scenic West Athletic Conference tournament play with a victory over the Colorado Northwestern Community College Spartans by a final score of 72-69.

The Eagles started the first quarter slowly but would eventually start to turn things around with defense and by the 1:48 mark of the first half had built a 17 point lead. They would give up some ground going into the locker room at the half by 11. The Spartans came out in the second half cutting into the lead and outscoring the Eagles, but USU Eastern would hold on for a three point victory.

Leading the way for the Spartans was Dre’Quez Harvey with 23 points and seven rebounds. Matthew Hamilton scored 11 and grabbed six boards. And Rhaven Brown would add 10 points to go along with his 12 rebounds. As a team Colorado Northwestern shot 47.2% from the field, they also had 34 points in the paint.

For the Eagles Gabriel Olivera led the team with 20 points and 11 boards. Dillon Sorenson dropped in 13 points as did Vojtech Ruzek who grabbed 11 boards as well.

The Spartans had difficulty penetrating the USU Eastern zone defense which caused a lot of shots from the perimeter and also did it’s job, as the Eagles were able to cause 19 turnovers which they turned into 22 points.

Next up for the USU Eastern Men is a meeting with the Salt Lake Community College Bruins. The No. 1 seed in the tournament. The Bruins went a perfect 9-0 in conference play this season.

The game will be available on KOAL 107.3 FM and 750 AM. It can also be streamed live at castlecountryradio.com, as well as video streamed at koalitv.com.

Pre-game is set for 1:40 pm and tip-off is scheduled at 2:00 pm.