Angelo Allegri brings the ball up court at Dahlberg Arena in Missoula where his 19 points helped EWU top Montana Dec. 29.
The Eastern Washington men's basketball team did something very rare on the opening week of Big Sky Conference play beating both Montana and Montana State - on the road.
Eastern opened Dec. 29 with an 87-80 win over the University of Montana and followed that Dec. 31 defeating defending Big Sky Champions, Montana State, 70-67.
The Eagles did sweep both schools during the COVID-complicated 2020-21 season, but in the traditional schedule setting the last time the Eastern pulled off that feat was the 2014-15 season when they earned the program's second NCAA Tournament berth against Georgetown.
As Eastern ended MSU's 14-game home winning streak, Angelo Allegri (19 points) and Steele Venters (17) were Eastern's top scorers.
But it was Venters who nailed two critical shots in the final seconds. His basket with 1 minute, 5 seconds remaining tied the game at 65 and with 19 seconds to play a 3-pointer put the Eagles ahead for good, 68-65.
Eastern led 33-28 after the first 20 minutes but the teams waged a back-and-forth second half with neither getting any breathing room.
In the game at Dahlberg Arena against the Grizzlies, the teams traded first half leads with Montana up 39-37 at the break and were up 60-54 with 10 minutes, 49 seconds to play.
That's when Dane Erikstrup helped turn things in favor of Eastern with four made free throws. He added a put-back layup to cut the lead to 63-62 with 7:48 on the clock.
Erikstrup, Angelo Allegri and Cedric Coward came up big at the line with six-straight free throws to build a 75-71 EWU lead with 4:25 left. Ethan Price delivered a statement dunk with 41 seconds left in the game to extend the lead to 84-78.
Allegri matched his season-high with 19 points, one of six Eagles in double-figures. Erikstrup was close behind with 17, Ethan Price had 13 while Coward, Steele Venters and Tyreese Davis each scored 12.
Bench production was key for Eastern, as they outscored Montana 31-11.
Eastern (2-0 Big Sky, 8-7 overall) plays its next four games at home, starting with Portland State on Thursday, Jan. 5 at 6 p.m. and Sacramento State, Saturday, Jan. 7 at 2 p.m.
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