EOU splits at home tourney

Written by Observer staff reports November 09, 2009 03:31 pm

Freshman Cody Thurmond drives to the basket against Montana Tech at the Aramark Quinn Classic Saturday. PAUL HARDER

The Mountaineers men’s basketball team finished on a high note at the Aramark Quinn Classic Saturday.

Eastern Oregon University defeated Montana Tech 69-42.

Thomas McCarthy finished with a team-high 14 points on 4 of 6 shooting from behind the 3-point arc.

The Mountaineer defense held the Orediggers to 25 percent shooting from the field. EOU shot 52 percent.

Josh Cottle also hit double figures for the Mountaineers with 10 points.

Dan Stafford grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds.

EOU (2-1) led 36-29 at halftime, but limited Montana Tech to 13 points in the second half.

Friday was a different story.

The Mountaineers fell to the University of Montana Western 77-61.

The Bulldogs connected on 12 of 21 shots from behind the 3-point arc, including seven in the first half.

EOU held a 30-29 lead with 1:55 left in the first half, but the visitors closed out the final two minutes with a 15-4 run.

Montana Western outscored the Mountaineers 43-31 in the second half.

The Bulldogs’ Layne Glaus led all scorers with 17 points.

JaRon Brown collected a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

McCarthy led EOU with 11 points.

EOU shot 37 percent from the field, while Montana Western shot 50 percent.

Brown was named the the tournament MVP.

Glaus was selected to the All-Tournament team.

McCarthy was the lone selection from the Mountaineers.

Dean Colbray of Montana Tech and Mark Moore of Walla Walla rounded out the All-Tournament team.

Montana Western was the lone team with two wins.

EOU travels to play Walla Walla University Thursday for a 7 p.m. game.