| CEU’s Jake Nelson lets go of a shot at a recent game in the BDAC. |
The College of Eastern Utah’s men’s basketball team has sat in the middle of the pack most of the season.
And that is where it ended up when the league tournament closed this past weekend as well.
The team was able to beat the teams with worse records and struggled against teams ranked above them.
On Thursday they took on Snow and won 83-67. Then on Friday they had to face powerful Southern Idaho, in a game where the final score of 103-92 was not indicative of the play.
Thursday night CEU squared off against number five seed Snow College. The game began with the two teams trading scoring opportunities.
About seven minutes into the game CEU began to slowly pull away. By the end of the first period they had a 12 point lead.
The pace slowed a bit in the second half. CEU had its inside game going and were able to score 30 points in the paint. John Rogers led the team to victory with 20 points off the glass. Tyler Kepkay added 18 of his own. At the end of the game the final score was CEU over Snow 83-67.
That success landed CEU in the laps of number one ranked Southern Idaho College. The game on Friday afternoon saw CEU fall behind early and spend the entire game trying to play catch up. Southern Idaho’s defense held the Golden Eagles to 39 percent shooting in the first half.
Despite matching up with a team that had taken them to school earlier in the season, the Eagles held their own in the game. By the first break the squad was only down by six.
In the second period CEU kept pulling within four only to let Southern Idaho build the lead right back to 10. Despite playing hard, the men from Price saw their season slip away as they went down to defeat.
If the Eagles could have put one good scoring run together, the outcome may have been different.
So in a win or go home series, the Eagles headed back to Price holding their own in the tournament, neither bettering their lot or losing ground.