Kountz and Knecht both post over 20 points and Bears fall short to Eagles

Thursday, January 19

Greeley, Colo.

6 p.m.

University of Northern Colorado

6-13,1-6Big Sky

Eastern Washington

13-7,7-0Big Sky

Eastern Wash.

Northern Colo.

Photo by: Jam David

1/19/2023 8:38:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

GREELEY, Colo. -- Daylen Kountz posted 21 points and Dalton Knecht finished one rebound shy of a double-double with 23 points, as the Northern Colorado men's basketball team narrowly fell to Eastern Washington, 83-75, on Thursday night at Bank of Colorado Arena.

Both teams started the contest shooting extremely well, with UNC shooting 50% and EWU shooting 56.7% in the first half. Unfortunately, the Eagles put up a 64% rate in the second half as the Bears dropped to 35.1%.

It was a back-and-forth affair, however, as the lead changed 10 times throughout the contest. The Bears held a five-point lead midway through the first half, before the Eagles would eventually finish out the half with an eight-point scoring run.

BY THE NUMBERS

The game marked the 11th contest in which Dalton Knecht has led the Bears in scoring.
Daylen Kountz's 21 points is his most since he put up 22 points against Air Force on Dec. 20.
Matt Johnson II finished third among the Bears in scoring with 18 points, his most since an 18-point night against CSUN on Dec. 10.
UNC scored 12 three-pointers on the night, while Eastern Washington scored 50 in the paint.
The Bears limited Eastern Washington to just three offensive boards, while the Bears nabbed 11 offensive rebounds.

ACCORDING TO COACH SMILEY
"I thought there was a lot of good, I thought we played really hard. When you look at it, that team has won nine games in a row now. I think we're all very similar. The tough thing is, you start looking at your record, you start believing what you are. I thought our guys came out with a championship effort, they were dialed in."

"In the majority of our games so far in the league, we've been down big, and we've come back or whatever it is. The one exception was Idaho State, we had a good lead and lost in overtime; and these have all been pretty close games. For this game, with this team being so good … I thought we were a couple plays away from really breaking through; and we didn't quite get it done. I was really proud of our three best players, Matt, Daylen, and Dalton, they played really well and that's encouraging because we haven't had a lot of that yet this year. I think Matt and Daylen have trended upwards over the last week and a half."

"[Eastern Washington] is just a little bit better right now. They're a team that you have to decide if you're going to give up threes or fight them at the rim. We chose fight them at the rim, and I thought that they finished well, which we knew they probably would. Overall, I'm proud of our effort."

UP NEXT
Northern Colorado returns to Bank of Colorado Arena for Alumni Night, hosting the University of Idaho on Saturday, Jan. 21, at 6 p.m. (MT). Alumni can use the promo code UNCALUMNI to receive $5 tickets. Visit UNCBears.com/Tickets for more information.