Feb. 23, 2008

Final Stats |  Photo Gallery 

GREELEY, Colo. - Needing a victory to have any chance at making the Big Sky Conference tournament, the University of Northern Colorado men's basketball team got one in convincing fashion, defeating Eastern Washington 79-66 on senior night.

Northern Colorado, with the win, improves to 12-15 overall and 5-9 in Big Sky Conference play, tripling its win total from the 2006-07 season, while Eastern Washington falls to 11-19 overall and 6-9 in league action.

"I told the team before the game `You have nothing to lose. Just go out and play," said Head Coach Tad Boyle. "I was pleased with our effort and execution tonight. Jabril and Sean, we look for those guys and they came through."

Senior guard Sean Taibi made the most of his last home game, scoring a team-high 20 points, including four three-pointers. With his second triple of the game, he tallied the 250^th three-pointer of his career. Junior forward Jabril Banks added 19 points on a perfect 9-for-9 performance from the field, the fourth time this year he hasn't missed a shot (with at least five makes). Sophomore forward Jefferson Mason came off the bench added 12 points, nine rebounds and five assists. Junior guard Robert Palacios led the game with 11 rebounds, while senior guard Terry Anderson had a game-high six assists, which ties his career high.

Eastern Washington was again led by Adris DeLeon who scored 27 points and had a team-high three steals. Kellen Williams added 13 points, while Marcus Hinton had a team-best seven rebounds. DeLeon enjoyed playing the Bears this season, as he had 42 in the first meeting between the clubs.

Northern Colorado out-rebounded Eastern Washington 38-25. The Bears shot .556 from the floor, .286 from the three-point line (6-21) and just .619 from the free throw line (13-21). Eastern Washington shot .439 from the field, .227 from the three-point line (5-22) and .611 from the charity stripe (11-18). The Bears tallied 20 turnovers, while the Eagles had 18.

The Bears hit the road for their final two regular season games, playing at Montana on Thursday evening and at Montana State on Saturday evening. Both games are scheduled for 7:05 p.m. and can be heard live on 1310 KFKA AM.