PRICE – Utah State Eastern men's basketball defeated #17 Salt Lake Community College Bruins 87-86 on Thursday in Taylorsville.
The Eagles struggled early in the beginning of the game, starting out down 18-5 within the first seven minutes of the game.
With the first seven minutes the Eagles shot 16% from the field compared to the Bruins' 70 field goal percentage.
"Oggie got in foul trouble real early and we made bad decisions on offense and tried to force the ball," said USU Eastern
After media timeout with 13 minutes left in the first half, the Eagles would close the gap with the Bruins.
The Eagles made three shots from behind the three-point line in a span of two minutes including two from freshman Blaze Nield.
With 2:12 in the left in the half, Walker hit a jumper to tie the game up at 41-41.
"Tyler was huge for us tonight on both ends of the floor. Blaze was very aggressive for us and made some important threes for us," said Becheli.
After being down 50-47 at halftime, USU Eastern would open the second half with a 9-3 run in the first three minutes.
The Eagles would lead the Bruins for a majority of the second half until 8:19 left in the game when Salt Lake tied it at 67-67.
"We focused on each possession and getting defensive stops then turn around and execute on offense," said USU Eastern guard Tanner Nygren.
Sophomore forward Ognjen Pantovic would help the Eagles hold their lead in the second half with his scoring run of ten straight points for the Eagles in three minutes.
After multiple chances for the Bruins to get the win in the final seconds, the Eagles would pull through and get their fourth straight win.
"It feels great to get the win. This group is really resilient and they battled all the way to the end of the game," said Becheli.
Nield led the way with 20 points, eight rebounds and three assists.
Pantovic and sophomore forward Chase Berry each put in 15 points.
Nield, Berry, and Pantovic all finished the game with at least four fouls and played most of the game in foul trouble.
"We trust those guys and we know when they are on the court they come through for us. Even when they are in foul trouble they give it there full effort," said Nygren.
Off the bench, Walker and Nygren combined to score 22 points for USU Eastern.
"Tanner and Tyler came off the bench and did a ton of things for us tonight on both defense and offense," said Becheli.
As a team the Eagles shot 50% from the field and 55.6% from long distance.
The Eagles now have a 3-0 record in conference play and sit in first place in the standings.
Up next for the Eagles is Snow College who comes to town on Saturday.
"We will celebrate the win tonight. Tomorrow we will get to the gym and work hard to improve defensively to get ready for Snow on Saturday," said Nygren.
Tip off for Saturday's game is scheduled for 5 p.m. inside the BDAC.
The game will be live streamed on the Scenic West Digital Network at scenicwestnetwork.com.
