The 14 lead changes and five ties in the first half were what the Eagles are capable of.
 
But the San Francisco Dons played up to their pre-game billing in the second half and pulled away for an 85-63 victory over the Eagles Thursday (Dec. 13) at War Memorial at the Sobrato Center.
 
After leading for much of the first 16 minutes, EWU allowed San Francisco to end the first half and start the second half with big runs. The Dons scored nine of the last 11 points to take a six-point lead at halftime, then scored the first 11 of the second half to open a 17-point bulge. In all, the costly run against EWU was 20-2.
 
Senior Jesse Hunt scored 14 points and had seven rebounds to lead EWU, and sophomore Luka Vulikic tallied 13. Both players scored nine of their points in the first half, and sophomore Jacob Davison chipped in nine points in the game for the Eagles.
 
"There were flashes, and it's a positive thing looking at our team after the game," said Eastern head coach Shantay Legans. "They are devastated they lost because they don't like losing. But at the same time they are fighting and trying to win. We're trying to find the right combination of guys so that when they get in the game everything clicks. We have to make sure the ball moves and we're doing the right things. And when they step on the floor, every player has to give his maximum effort."
 
Eastern (1-7) sank 11 of its first 22 shots for 50 percent, but made only 37 percent (14-of-38) after that. San Francisco sank 56 percent of its shots in the second half to finish at 51.7 percent for the game – the third-highest percentage against EWU in eight games this season.
 
The Dons improved to 9-1 after receiving five votes in this week's Associated Press Top 25 poll. San Francisco is also ranked 17th in the Collegeinsider.com mid-major top 25 rankings.
 
"We're going through a lull right now, but our heads are up and we're proud," added Legans, whose team plays at Stanford on Saturday (Dec. 15). "We'll make sure we come out with a great effort on Saturday."
 

Records . . .
 
* The Eagles are 1-7, and have gone 0-4 on a current five-game road stretch which started on Nov. 27. Eastern hasn't played at home – or won – since Nov. 17 when the Eagles beat UMKC 87-80 in overtime.
 
* San Francisco, a member of the West Coast Conference, is 9-1 and were coming off a 79-60 win at California on Dec. 5. The Dons won their first seven games of the season before suffering their lone loss thus far, 85-81 on a neutral court versus Buffalo on Dec. 1.
 
 
What's Next . . .
 
* Eastern closes its five-game road stretch at Stanford on Saturday (Dec. 15) at 4 p.m. Pacific time in a game televised live by the Pac-12 Networks. Last season, in just the third game under Legans of his head coaching career, Eastern upset Stanford 81-67 on Nov. 14, 2017. Having not played at home since Nov. 17, the Eagles will finally get to play at home when they host powerhouse South Dakota State on Dec. 18 at 6:05 p.m. at Reese Court. Three days later on Dec. 21, EWU closes its pre-Christmas schedule by hosting Corban University at 2:05 p.m. Corban replaced Walla Walla on EWU's schedule after the Wolves canceled their 2018-19 season on Oct. 24.
 

Top Performers . . .
 
* Senior Jesse Hunt made 6-of-14 shots from the field to finish with a team highs of 14 points and seven rebounds. He came just three boards from his fifth double-double of the season and fifth of his career.  He has now had 14 career double-figure scoring performances in his career to go along with six performances with 10 or more rebounds.
* Sophomore Luka Vulikic scored 13 points on 5-of-10 shooting for his second-best scoring performance of the season. He has scored 38 points (12.7 average) in his last three games after scoring 18 in his first five (3.6 average). He also had six rebounds, but was not credited with an assist after having 10 in his most recent outing versus North Dakota State on Dec. 8.
* Sophomore Jacob Davison scored six of his nine points in the second half, and finished 4-of-7 from the field. Having missed EWU's first two games and lots of preseason practice time with an injury, Davison had averaged 6.8 points in four games before scoring a career-high at North Dakota State on Dec. 8.
* True freshman Austin Fadal made the first start of his career and scored four points. He was coming off a season-high 14-point performance at North Dakota State on Dec. 8.
* Sophomore Steven Beo made his Eagle debut after sitting out last season as a transfer from BYU. The 2016 Richland (Wash.) High School graduate sank a 3-pointer late in the game to finish with three points and a rebound.
 
 
Key Stats . . .

* The first half featured 14 lead changes and five ties, with EWU leading by as many as three and USF leading by as many as six. Luka Vulikic fueled EWU's best run of the half of eight-straight points by hitting a layup and 3-pointer to help EWU lead 21-18 with 7:37 left. Eastern took its last lead of the game with a basket with 4:11 left, but the Dons scored nine of the last 11 points scored in the half to take a 35-29 lead at intermission. San Francisco out-rebounded EWU 41-29.
 
  
Notables . . .
 
* Eastern is now 3-3 all-time against San Francisco, including a 96-90 victory two seasons ago in Cheney, and an 81-71 loss a year ago in San Francisco. The three prior meetings were in San Francisco, and Eastern lost 66-48 on Dec. 1, 1995, won 81-76 on Dec. 11, 2014, and won 81-77 on Dec. 1, 2015.
 
* Including NDSU last Saturday, the Eagles have played just seven games total before this season versus its stretch of five-straight opponents from Dec. 8 to Dec. 21 -- five of those games came against USF. Eastern has never played North Dakota State or South Dakota State before this season, and beat Stanford 67-61 last year in EWU's only all-time meeting versus the Cardinal. Eastern has also played once versus Corban, but that came back on Dec. 15, 1987, when the school was then known as Western Baptist. The Eagles narrowly won in overtime 75-67 at Reese Court.
 

Comments from Head Coach Shantay Legans . . .
 
On Vulikic & Hunt:  "Luka played great. He didn't have any assists, but their game plan was to make him score and he did tonight. Jesse had a great game – he got guys in foul trouble by driving. He didn't have a great shooting game but he had seven rebounds. Once we get those guys going, and another big to come into that mix, we are going to be a really good team. Our younger players need to play the way we know they can play and our shooters need to start knocking down some shots."
 
On First Half and Turning Point: "There were a lot of things we did well. Our team played well together, but for the last few minutes of the first half we reverted to watching teammates try to play guys one-on-one which is not our game or strength. We have to move the ball around and make sure guys get touches. In the first five minutes of the second half we had a couple of turnovers lead to transition baskets and then we gave up offensive rebounds."