Golden Eagles SLAM Colorado Kings
Improving on defense by giving up less easy buckets should help USU Eastern men’s basketball overall 5-3 record as they prepare for conference play starting Dec. 13.
Over the Thanksgiving break, the USU Eastern men’s basketball team played two games against some of the top teams from Wyoming. On Friday, Nov. 23, the Golden Eagles defeated the defending Region 9 champions, Western Wyoming by of score of 80-70 with Luke Savoy leading scoring with 16 points.
This archived article was written by: Talon Bryan
Improving on defense by giving up less easy buckets should help USU Eastern men’s basketball overall 5-3 record as they prepare for conference play starting Dec. 13.
Over the Thanksgiving break, the USU Eastern men’s basketball team played two games against some of the top teams from Wyoming. On Friday, Nov. 23, the Golden Eagles defeated the defending Region 9 champions, Western Wyoming by of score of 80-70 with Luke Savoy leading scoring with 16 points.
The following day the team traveled back to Price to play Central Wyoming. The team didn’t quite play up to par, taking a loss of 62-79. Leading scoring and rebounds was Dytanya ‘’Bubby” Johnson with 15 points and seven rebounds. Central Wyoming is still undefeated on the season.
On the weekend of Nov. 30, USU Eastern hosted the Colorado Kings Friday and Saturday. On Friday night the Golden Eagles won, but Saturday was the high point of the weekend. The men went off scoring 99 points as a team with top scorer, Miles Gatewood, putting up 28 points and complimenting that with seven rebounds. Jason Timpf, also contributed 21 points and 14 rebounds making this his third consecutive game with a double-double. Jeff Perkins scored 16 points, and Todd Helgesen and Mike Stroud performed well off the bench.
In the second half, the team really took the momentum, taking the ball straight to the hoop and deciding it was time to start a dunk contest. Timpf, Johnson, Helgesen, Perkins and Igor Diaz all throwing down crowd-pleasing dunks. The most surprising dunk came from Helgesen. With Gatewood driving down for a lay-up and Helgesen following close behind, the ball missed leaving it on the edge of the rim waiting to get put back in, Helgesen jumped from outside the charge circle, soaring to the hoop and putting down a hammer of a dunk, leaving the crowd going crazy and the momentum completely on the Golden Eagles’ side.
The team really used their chemistry and positive attitude to explode against the Kings. Coach Carter Roe was pleased with the higher shooting percentage that the team put up and hopes the team can build on that and keep improving. Roe is also hoping that the team can improve on their point of attack on defense and give up a lot less easy buckets, and utilize the post’s Timpf and Johnson down low.
The Golden Eagles play in the College of Southern Idaho tournament on December 7-8 and open Scenic West Athletic Conference play at home Dec. 13 and 15 against CSI and North Idaho at 7:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. in the BDAC.
