The USU Eastern men’s basketball team has extended its overall record to 8-2 after a win over Impact Academy last Wednesday and a two-win weekend at the Snow Tournament.
The Golden Eagles were able to secure the three wins, despite only having nine players starting each game due to injuries. Head coach Adjalma Becheli said that having two injured players has presented quite a challenge when it comes to practicing and scrimmaging, which is something that many people do not think of. The team has not been able to play full scrimmages at practice and has been forced to play three-on-three or four-on-four, while also working on minor technical issues.
“It’s tough, especially on practice,” said Becheli. “We don’t have 10 guys. We can’t do some scrimmages, that stuff. Most of the practices we’ve been playing three-on-three, four-on-four, shooting, try to work on little details that we’re going to need when we put five guys on the court.”
The Golden Eagles were able to overcome this setback against Impact Academy on Wednesday and cruised to a 104-75 win at home. While USUE led by 18 points at halftime, Becheli still was not impressed with his team’s effort through the first half. This has been a constant issue that he addressed with the Golden Eagles at halftime.
“The second half they put more effort on zone defense and we put some pressure on their shots,” said Becheli. “They missed and they got rebounds and we pushed. That’s the thing that we want to do.”
The Golden Eagles came out of halftime with a new spark and went on a 20-point run before Impact Academy was finally able to score its first points of the half on free-throw shots. At one point the Golden Eagles led by 38 points, the games largest margin, and they finished the game leading by 29 with the final score of 104-75
“I think they played hard,” said Becheli. “We are down to nine players and we’re going to need the other guys [to] step up and cover who’s out and I think they did a great job.”
USUE went on to win their two games at the Snow Tournament on Friday and Saturday. The Golden Eagles defeated Treasure Valley 105-68, then defeated Central Wyoming College 82-64.
USUE continues to get closer to beginning division play, which Becheli said will be quite tough this season after watching some of the rival schools play. The Golden Eagles’ first SWAC, Scenic West Athletic Conference, game will be at Snow College on Dec. 10. Their next home game will be a SWAC game against North Idaho College on Dec. 17 at 7:30 p.m.
“I think it’s going to be one more motivation for us when the league starts because we’ve been watching them and they’re pretty good and we want to compete against them,” said Becheli.
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