Eastern men remain perfect in Big Sky play

The Eastern Washington men needed another late rally but successfully kept alive their best start in Big Sky history with a sweep of its two road games last week.

Trailing by five points, 74-69 with 2 minutes, 45 seconds to play, the Eagles went on a 10-2 run to claim a 79-76 win over Northern Arizona, Jan. 21. Earlier in the trip Eastern led from the midpoint of the second half to defeat Northern Colorado 83-75.

Eastern improved to 8-0 in conference play, 14-7 overall and won its 10th consecutive game.

Steele Venters ignited the EWU rally with his 3-pointer from the left wing. Next up was Angelo Allegri, who was fouled on a 3-point attempt with 1:45 left and sank each all three shots to put EWU ahead for good.

“We kicked it out to really good shooters and I’m living with all of those shots,” head coach David Riley said. When you’ve got the shooters we have, it’s just a matter of the ball going in.”

Sophomore forward Dane Erikstrup Eastern with 20 points and 7 rebounds, including 15 points in the second half against the Lumberjacks in Flagstaff. Venters (15), Allegri (14) and Casey Jones (11) were other Eagles in double figures.

Price had a career-high 23 points, many down low in the paint, in the Eastern victory over Northern Colorado in Greeley. Venters had 15 points while Tyreese Davis added 12 more.

The Eagles led 39-35 at halftime and were up 60-52 with 9:17 to play. After the Bears would trim a 72-62 lead to six with under 3 minutes to play, Price nailed a key 3-pointer to expand the lead.

The Eagles return to Cheney to host Idaho State (7-12, 4-2) at Reese Court on Thursday, Jan.26 6 p.m. and Weber State (9-10, 4-2) on Saturday at 2 p.m.

 

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