Eagles' basketball streak now at 15

Eastern Washington men’s basketball keeps mowing down other teams and milestones.

In the Eagles’ 73-66 Big Sky Conference victory Feb. 11 over Idaho at Idaho Central Credit Union Arena not only saw an extension of the team’s winning streak, now at 15 and the longest in the nation in Division I play, but their conference run reached 13-0.

“We found another way to win,” said head coach David Riley after the game. “We took care of the ball, got 12 offensive rebounds and did a pretty good job making sure the right guys were shooting at the end of the clock.”

Sophomore guard Steele Venters scored his 1,000th career point, part of 13 points won the night with a basket that broke a 60-all tie with 2 minutes, 38 seconds to play and gave Eastern the lead, 63-60, for good.

Venters became just the 24th player in program history to do so entirely as an Eagle.

 In a game where Eastern shot well off its usual pace, the Eagles’ notable edge came with offensive rebounding, 12-7 and 13 all-important second chance points.

Eastern finished the game 23-59 from the field and 39%, their lowest shooting since Dec. 7 at PAC-12 Cal. They also went a subpar 8-27 from 3-point distance (29.7%). But the defense held Idaho to 37.5% shooting (21-56).

Also struggling from the free-throw line, shooting a dismal 19-31 (61.3%), that part of the game picked up, albeit barely, at the right time.

Following Venters’ tiebreaker basket, Casey Jones sunk a pair of free throws for a 65-60 EWU lead. Angelo Allegri layup with 1:49 made it an 8-0 EWU run and 67-60 game.

After Idaho closed the gap to 67-64, Venters and Allegri each went 1-for-2 at the foul line. Divant Moffitt’s field goal again drew the Vandals to within 3 points before Tyreese Davis and Cedric Coward field goals with under 20 seconds to play decided it.

Ethan Price’s 16 points topped the Eagles with Davis adding 12 and a trio of Eagles, Jones (9), Allegri and Coward eight each.

After three games on the road, the Eagles’ next games will be at Reese Court Thursday, Feb. 16 (6 p.m.) vs. Northern Arizona and Saturday, Feb. 18 (2 p.m.) vs. Northern Colorado.