The Eastern Washington University used an 18-2 surge in the second half and went on to a dominating 85-69 victory over Montana State in a Big Sky Conference men’s basketball game Saturday (Feb. 13) at Worthington Arena in Bozeman, Mont. Eastern won the first game of the two-game series on Thursday (Feb. 11) by a 93-77 score.
The win was EWU’s seventh-straight victory as the Eagles maintained first place in the Big Sky Conference standings. Eastern is 9-2 in the Big Sky and 10-6 overall with four games left to play.
With five Eagles scoring in double figures, Eastern scored 49 points in the second half thanks to a 57 percent and a stretch of over nine minutes in which MSU failed to sink a field goal. Eastern had 13 3-pointers – eight in the second half – and had a 34-28 rebounding edge. The Eagles were out-rebounded on Thursday and gave up 17 offensive rebounds, but allowed just seven Bobcat second chances in the rematch.
“Defense was what won us this game,” said Eastern head coach Shantay Legans. “Rebounding was the key – I thought we could stop them in certain ways, but they are a very good offensive rebounding team. Our goal was to hold them to eight offensive rebounds or under, and we did that. That was a key part to me.”
After leading 36-33 at halftime, Eastern blew it open in the second half with runs of 8-0 and 10-0, with Ellis Magnuson leading the way with nine of EWU’s points during the overall 18-2 surge. A 3-pointer by Michael Meadows put the Eagles up by 24 with 11:18 left, and EWU led by no less than 16 the rest of the way.
Tanner Groves led Eastern with 16 points, scoring 14 of them in the first half. Meadows had 15, including 11 in the second half, and Magnuson scored nine of his 11 after intermission. Tyler Robertson had the first double-double of his career with 10 points and 10 rebounds, and Kim Aiken Jr., also had a double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds.
“Getting out to that lead in the second half made me feel good,” added Legans. “We hit some shots and spread them out, so we really used their pressure against them in the second half.”
Eastern’s remaining schedule includes a home game versus Montana (Feb. 18), a road game at the Grizzlies (Feb. 20), and games versus Idaho State on March 3 and 5 at Reese Court in Cheney, Wash.
All 11 league teams will advance to the Big Sky Conference Basketball Championships, to be held for the third consecutive year at recently re-named Idaho Central Arena (formerly CenturyLink Arena) in Boise, Idaho. The neutral-site tournament will run from March 10-13, 2021, and begins two days earlier for the women.
This article is comprised of media and information from an Eastern Washington press release. For more sports, news and entertainment, follow the Midwest Sports Network on Twitter @MWSNsports or like the MWSN page on Facebook.
