Eagle wins over Griz twice as nice

CHENEY — Call them matched bookends — identical victories over the Griz.

Eastern Washington’s men’s basketball team moved closer to defending their Big Sky Conference title by not only sweeping the Montana Grizzlies in a home-and-home series last week, but did so by identical scores as well, 90-76.

The Eagles capped the week that started Thursday in Cheney at Reese Court with a fast start —they had 49-27 first-half lead — and followed a similar script Saturday morning, Feb. 20 in Missoula.

Eastern sprinted to big leads, including a 51-34, 22-point halftime edge at Dahlberg Arena to win its ninth consecutive game and earn the first sweep over Montana since the 2003 season.

The Big Sky’s reigning Player of the Week, Kim Aiken Jr. chalked up more impressive numbers both Saturday when he hit for a career-high 28 points. That went with Thursday’s 21-point production. It earned him the POW honor again. Aiken’s Saturday stats included 10 rebounds for a 20th career double-double.

“We took the right shot and everybody was there for one another,” Eastern head coach Shantay Legans said. “It was a fun game to coach and be a part of, and it’s always great to beat Montana.”

 Sophomore Michael Meadows had his seventh-straight game in double figures with 20 with Tanner Groves adding 14 points. Eastern has handed Montana their worst two Big Sky losses of the season. The Eagles are now 11-2 in the Big Sky and 12-6 overall.

Through Saturday’s games, Eastern tops the ‘Sky standings, followed by Southern Utah (8-2), Weber State (9-3), Idaho State (7-3) and Montana State (6-4). 

The Eagles used an early 13-1 run to take a 17-3 lead by sinking seven of their first 12 shots in the first half. At the same time they held the Grizzlies to a 1-of-10 start, including a 5 minute, 10 second stretch without a field goal.

Eastern and Aiken continued their hot shooting to open the second half, starting it with an 8-2 run to go up by 28. Moments later, Aiken hit his third 3-pointer of the half to give EWU a 62-33 lead with 15:05 left.

Legans emptied the bench giving valuable playing time to a number of players. As the minutes ticked away 12 different Eagles played and 10 scored, allowing the Grizzlies to close the gap near the end.

Also inserted into the lineup was preseason Big Sky MVP Jacob Davison who missed the previous two games with a non-COVID illness. He tallied four points from a pair of perfect trips to the free throw line.

On Thursday, sophomore Tyler Robertson led the Eagles with a career-high 21 points, matching the output from Aiken. Tanner Groves had his seventh double-double of the season with 14 points, 10 rebounds while Meadows was the fourth Eagle in double figures with 14.

Again, Eastern put up big numbers, leading by 27 at one point in the second half. Montana came into the series with some solid defensive cred but Eastern destroyed those stats shooting 54 percent for the game after a 17-of-19 — 89.5 percent — start.

“They kicked our butts last year — twice, and even the last four times,” Legans said. “Our team was excited to play this game, had intensity and were ready to go.”

The Grizzlies are now 5-9 in the league and 9-12 overall, but had defeated the Eagles the last four times they’ve met, two of those in Big Sky Conference Tournament championships in 2018 and 2019.

After taking this weekend off, Eastern wraps up its league schedule with home games against Idaho State on March 3 and 5. The Big Sky Conference men’s tournament takes place the following week, March 10-13, and begins two days earlier for the women in Boise.

Paul Delaney is a retired former Free Press Publishing reporter and can be reached at pauldelaney53@comcast.net.