Eastern Losses Battle of Top 25 Teams

2.3.07

La Grande Ore.  The #22 Mountaineers (19-6, 11-4) had some chances to knock of the #4 ranked Warner Pacific Knights (21-4, 12-2) Saturday night. However, turnovers and poor shooting in the second half doomed the home team in their 78-72 loss.

It was a back and forth, up and down contest that seemed to be heading towards a dramatic finish. Both teams held small leads late in the second stanza. But it was Warner Pacific that took control late in the game when the Mountaineers turned the ball over on consecutive trips. Eastern was unable to execute offensively down the stretch, shooting just 34% in the second half. The Knights made their free throws to seal the deal.

Paul Carollo, Tanner McIntosh and Mark Carollo all finished in double figures. Paul finished with a team high 18 points and hauled in 5 rebounds while McIntosh scored 14 points while grabbing 5 rebounds of his own. Mark seemed to be coming back into form after being hampered by a major ankle sprain several weeks ago. The junior had 12 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists in 17 minutes.

Eastern will travel to Southern Oregon and #7 OIT next weekend.