Consider it a tale of two rallies, one they needed to make and another stave off for the Eastern Washington men’s basketball team to remain perfect in the early stages of Big Sky Conference play.
The Eagles used a huge run down the stretch on Jan. 5 at Reese Court and rallied to defeat Portland State 92-80. Two days later the script was reversed as Eastern watched a big halftime lead evaporate, but on Steele Venters 3-pointer in the closing seconds, earned a 78-75 win over Sacramento State.
Leading 49-28 at halftime Eastern would get an Angelo Allegri jam with 14:22 remaining for a 61-37 lead on the Vikings. But it was almost all Portland State from there as they would go on a series of runs that earned them a tie at 75-75 with 15 seconds to play.
The Eagles called a time out and drew up a play that left Venters wide open from the left side of the circle where he drained the winning shot with 2 seconds to play.
Venters led Eastern with 25 points while Tyreese Davis added 11.
Eastern took a 43-39 lead to the halftime break against Portland State but the Vikings crafted a 66-61 lead near the midpoint of the second half.
Davis would then connect from three to bring the lead down to 70-69 with 6 minutes, 30 seconds remaining. Cedric Coward would then give the Eagles the lead and Ethan Price’s 3-pointer extended it to 76-72 and added from there.
The Eagles shot a staggering 62.5 percent from the field in the second half.
Venters led all scorers with 25 points with Angelo Allegri pitching in 20 against the Vikings. Davis posted a career-high at Eastern with 15 points.
Eastern, winners of six straight to improve to 10-7 overall and 4-0 in Big Sky play, will be off until Saturday, Jan. 14, when they host Idaho at 3:30 p.m. as part of a double-header with the Eagle women who play at 1.
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