A pair of free throws from Steele Venters with 1 minute, 54 seconds remaining broke a 57-all tie and helped propel Eastern Washington to a 6-0 Big Sky Conference record — and some history — as the Eagles beat Montana 64-57 Jan. 16 at Reese Court.
With the victory, its eighth consecutive, the Eagles are off to their best start since joining the conference for the 1987-88 season. On Saturday, Eastern defeated Idaho 95-74 to stay perfect in Big Sky play.
Cedric Coward provided the insurance with a basket at 1:06 for a 61-57 lead and three free throws from Angelo Allegri down the stretch sealed it.
“Our pace got way better in the second half,” head coach David Riley said.
Eastern, 12-7 overall, had as much as a nine-point lead at 46-38 with 9:06 to play but Montana evened it at 57-57 on a Josh Bannan foul shot at the 2:07 mark.
“Montana had a great game plan. They really broke our rhythm, and we were stagnate early in the game,” Riley said as his team trailed by as many as six in the opening 20 minutes.
Ethan Price led Eastern with 13 points, Tyreese Davis had 12, Venters 11 and Allegri 10.
“Dan [Erikstrup] and Ethan [Price] broke that a few times, with shots late in the shot clock,” Riley added. Erikstrup hit a key 3-pointer with 11:12 to go that broke a 36-all tie and Price’s triple put Eastern ahead 53-48 at 6:05.
Eastern swept the season series against Montana for the first time since the 2020-21 season.
The Eagles never let Idaho get that close going on a 9-0 run to open the second half as they built a 58-38 lead with 14:04 to play.
Five Eagles scored in double figures against the Vandals as Allegri led the team with 18. Tyreese Davis scored 15, Price 14 with both Venters and Coward adding 13.
Eastern will start a two-game road trip at Northern Colorado on Thursday, Jan. 19 and then Northern Arizona Jan. 21.
Reader Comments(0)