2/24/07: And They're Off

February 24, 2007

EOU Men begin season with wins over Multnomah, Montana-Western, Montana Tech, and even the Alumni.
After a near flawless performance opening season win over Multnomah Bible, Eastern had a chance to play relax a bit when they faced the Alumni team in the annual contest. The Mountaineers overcame a fairly slow start to defeat the alumni, 81-53.
It was an impressive performance on both sides of the ball for Eastern holding the alumni to only 26 percent shooting from the floor and eleven different players scoring on offense.
“It was a great opportunity to simulate what we’ll see on game day,” Head Coach Ryan Looney said. “All of our players got a chance to see some quality minutes.”
Only six days later, the Mounties received a pleasant surprise when the first national polls were released. EOU debuted at number 23 in the country.
Eastern would then take their recent rating on the road to Montana, defeating Tech and Western for the first time in three years. After a dismal shooting first half, the Mounties rebounded shooting 50 percent from the field and 60 percent from behind the arc in the second half to come back and beat Montana-Western, 73-66.
Sophomore Tanner McIntosh led the team with 23 points, while sophomore Paul Carollo had 13 points and 10 rebounds. Junior Dan Blanchard had 12 points and 9 rebounds of his own.
"Tanner provided some toughness for us at a point in the game when we really needed it,” said Coach Ryan Looney. “His ability to play inside and outside created some match-up problems for Montana-Western."
The Montana Tech game also can be named the “Mark Carollo Show.” The Junior led all scorers with 33 points, 26 of them coming in the first half. Tech came out strong against EOU, building an early double digit lead.
However, after a late first half rally the Mounties took the lea going into the locker room, 41-35. The second half was all Eastern holding the lead and eventually putting it away, 80-72.
"Mark scored a bundle of points is the first half which allowed us to fight back from an early hole,” Looney said. “His emotion and leadership helped carry us the second night on the road.”
Eastern will take their 3-0 start and host the Aramark Quinn Classic November 10-11; and will showcase the Mountaineers facing these two Montana schools again, Tech on the tenth and Western on the eleventh.