Eagles bounce back on road

This archived article was written by: Micah Iverson

Micah Iverson
sports editor
[email protected]
Usually teams struggle on the road in competitive sports, but the past two weeks have been confidence boosters for the Golden Eagles.   They traveled to Rangely, Colo. and to St. George and have come away with a 3-1 record to push their conference record to .500 at 7-7, which is good enough for fourth place in the Scenic West Athletic Conference.
The weekend of February 4-5, the Golden Eagles made the trek to Rangley, Colo. to take on the perennial cellar dwellers of the SWAC in Colorado Northwestern Community College.   After two tough defeats the previous weekend to CSI at home, the Golden Eagles looked to take their frustrations out on the only team in the SWAC without a conference win.
The first night both teams came out ready to play and after a first half of seesaw action, both teams went into their respective locker rooms deadlocked at 42. CEU started the second half strong and mounted a double-digit lead late in the game.   The Spartans never would go away and cut the lead back to single digits, but it was too much too late on behalf of the Spartans and
the game was won by
the Golden Eagles.
CEU shot 55 percent for the game, due to the fact that the Golden Eagles shot 64 percent (18-28) in the second half to propel them to the much needed victory. Leading the Eagles on 8-11 shooting was Eldridge Henderson with 23 points, four assists and two rebounds.   Following his lead was team captain Chris Lang, who scored 20 points, snatched eight rebounds and dished out five assists.  
The Golden Eagles looked to follow up on their best offensive output of the season, on paper that is, and even up their record at 6-6 with another win the following night at the same venue.   This game was a little different.   The game was close until midway through the first half when the Golden Eagles mounted a comfortable lead that took them into halftime 48-33.   With the offense hitting on all cylinders, the second half was much like the first.   The balanced effort was in full effect as the Golden Eagles had every player on the roster score all except one.  
Andy Beauchamp the 6’8 freshman out of Miami, Fla., had a chance late in the game to notch his first conference points of the year but couldn’t convert two-free throws and a field-goal attempt.   Nonetheless, the game ended without a hitch and the Golden Eagles took the commanding victory, 96-68.   Lang led the Eagles with 15 points and four rebounds.  Point-guard Jamaal Smith pitched in 12 points and four assists.   CEU shot even better than the night before and
finished 38-66 (57
percent) from the
field for the game.  
After a good week of practice and a non-conference win against Air Force Prep, the Golden Eagles headed to the Dixie land of Utah to the campus of Dixie State College.   The previous weekend the Rebels dropped two-straight games at home to the Bruins of Salt Lake Community College.   The Golden Eagles came in on a two-game winning streak and looked to beat the Rebels for the second straight game.   They won the opening conference game of the season against the then second-ranked Rebels, 65-63 in the BDAC on Dec. 2.  
In St. George the Golden Eagles came out strong and took an early lead, but the Rebels battled back to tie the game at half 31-31.   Much like the game at CNCC the week before, the Golden Eagles buffeted all the scoring of Dixie in the second half and matched them on every basket.   CEU took care of the ball late and kept turnovers to a minimum while forcing Dixie into 22 of their own.   CEU took the first game of two 76-68.   Lang once again led the Eagles on 7-14 from the floor for 20 points.   Smith
followed up with
18, on 4-9 from
the three-point arc.  
With a three-game-conference winning streak and another game the next night, coaches Bryan Zollinger, Brock Erickson and Bob Potts looked to gain momentum with only five more league games left in conference play.   Unfortunately the momentum that had been mounting from the previous three games ceased, and the Eagles shot a mere 33 percent in the first half.   The second half saw the Eagles shoot even worse with only six-field goals made.   For the game, the Golden Eagles shot 26.7 percent against the SWAC’s stingiest defense.   Leading the Eagles was Smith with 18 points and Lang with 15 points and 4 assists.
With a 7-7 conference record, the Golden Eagles from the College of Eastern Utah find themselves in fourth place in the Scenic West Athletic Conference.   Up this weekend are two highly anticipated games against Snow College in the BDAC.   Earlier this year the Golden Eagles battled and lost a close one to the Badgers in Ephraim, 74-84. The games this weekend will be the final home games of the season for the Golden Eagles, and all in attendance are in for two-hard fought games between conference rivals.  
Come support the Golden Eagles in their efforts or tune into the games live on 98.3 KARB at 7:30 p.m. both Friday and Saturday nights.