The College of Eastern Utah men’s basketball team started out last weekend on a rocky hill, but by the end of the weekend, they found themselves smooth sailing.
Thursday evening, the men started their weekend by hosting the Utah Valley Wolverines. The game started with the Wolverines taking control of the game. By the half, the Eagles trailed 43-32.
The second half of play allowed the Wolverines to dominate the game and closing the door to any chance of victory for the Eagles. UVSC walked away victorious by the score of 93-76.
CEU struggled from the field against the Wolverines. The team averaged only 35 percent from the field compared to the Wolverines average of 50 percent from the floor.
Although the Eagles struggled in completing shots, Skyler Wilson managed to sink his fair share of shots. Wilson finished the game with 23 points to lead his team in scoring, nine of these points came from three point field goals that Wilson usually seems to complete quite effortlessly.
Valentino Richardson followed Wilson in scoring with 11 points, along with the completion of 1-3 three point shots and two rebounds.
Renaldo Knowles handed out four assists and completed two steals against the Wolverines while scoring seven points. Patrick Stinnett also completed several assists with six, while pulling down six rebounds and scoring two points.
Despite the struggle at home against UVSC, the Eagles looked ahead to traveling to Salt Lake Community College Saturday, where the team planned to dish out a loss to the Salt Lake Bruins. The Eagles completed this plan by walking away victorious by the score of 83-77.
The Eagles grasped control of the game and improved their field goal average to 47 percent against the Bruins. The improvement of shooting allowed the Eagles to improve their winning record to 7-6 in the Scenic West Athletic Conference and 17-8 overall for the season.
Wilson once again lead the team in scoring with 33 points while completing 7-10 three point shots. Wilson is currently ranked sixth in the SWAC in three point field goals made with an average of 2.10 per game.
Wilson also has helped boost the CEU team to the second ranked position in the SWAC for three point field goal percentage with an average of 39 percent per game. The Eagles out-done this average with a 50 percent three point field goal percentage completed against the Bruins Saturday night.
Starting forward for the Eagles, Terrence Wiggins scored 25 points against the Bruins to assist the Eagles in their victorious game. Wiggins also posted eight rebounds, three assists and three steals while visiting the Salt Lake team.
Matt Thomas and Nick Whiting each contributed six points and five rebounds to the Eagles.
With individual players stepping up in the game against the Bruins, the team also stepped up as a complete unit to walk away victorious and return to top notch play, something the team struggled to do Thursday night at home.
The team improved across the boards since the loss against the Wolverines. The rebounding alone improved quite significantly with the Eagles completing 44 rebounds against the Bruins, while only posting 34 against UVSC.
The Eagles plan to continue their winning ways as they host Snow College Friday night and Dixie College Saturday night at the BDAC. The Eagles plan to bounce back from their last home loss and dish out two losses to the visiting SWAC teams this weekend.
Lady Eagles struggle for consistency
