Eastern Loss Ends Hopes of National Tournament Birth

 

2.27.07

Portland Ore.  Thursday morning at 10:00am the Mountie Basketball Team left
La Grande for Kirkland Washington in preparation for their 2nd round playoff game with Northwest University Saturday night. A game they fought hard to win 61-60. By the second half of Tuesday nights game the team had been away from home for 5 ½ days.

They spent their time practicing, watching film, going over scouting reports and preparing to play in the biggest game of their lives and oh yeah, keeping up with the classes that they left behind on Thursday morning.

In that second half it all seemed to catch up to them.

They had already accomplished more than any other men's basketball team to play at the University and with 20 minutes to go, up 37-31 it looked like they were going to add conference tournament champs to their resume. Unfortunately, they simply did not have enough in the tank to finish it off. EOU could only muster 14 more points after halftime. So, the 14th ranked Warner Pacific Knights won the game and the championship 58-51, promptly ending EOU's season.

With 23 wins to just 8 losses (six of those eight losses came to teams ranked in the top 25 in the nation) the Mountaineers have one of the highest win totals in the entire nation. They compete in the best conference in the country and have winning records against conference foe's Albertson College and Northwest University, who have both advanced to the National Tournament.

Yet somehow, The Mountaineers did not do enough to convince the other coaches around the country they deserved to be ranked in the top 25. Therefore, they will not receive an at large bid to the NAIA National Tournament.

Playing in their last collegiate game, seniors Derek Brown and Vernon Cropper finished the game with 12 and 6 points respectively. Browns 12 led the Mounties. Cropper added 4 rebounds in his 14 minutes off the bench.

The future looks bright for EOU. The team will return 12 players from this year's roster. Sophomores Paul Carollo, Tanner McIntosh and Jeremy Templeton all received All-Conference honors.

 

 

 

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