If the start could have been sustained, the Eagles would have a second-straight victory over the Stanford Cardinal heading into a four-game home stretch.
 
The Eastern Washington University men's basketball team made its first six shots to jump out to a 14-4 lead, but Stanford rallied and pulled away in the closing minutes for a 78-62 victory over the Eagles on Saturday (Dec. 15) at Maples Pavilion. Eastern returns home for its next four games, including its final two non-conference games and first two Big Sky Conference outings.
 
Eastern (1-8) led by as many as 12 in the first half, and was on top 32-27 at halftime thanks to 48 percent shooting from the field. But the Cardinal (5-4) got hot in the second half, making 19 of 28 shots for 68 percent. Stanford took the lead for good with 14:50 left in the game, then runs of 6-0 and 5-0 helped open a double-digit lead with inside of 4 1/2 minutes to play.
 
"We came out and played hard against a Pac-12 foe who is really good," said Legans. "We played inspired basketball and this is what we look forward to -- ball movement, making some shots and playing great defense. We are getting there and there is a lot of progress being made."
 
Senior Jesse Hunt scored the second-most points in his career with 27, with sophomore Luka Vulikic finishing with 11. Cody Benzel hit a pair of 3-pointers to keep EWU within striking distance in the second half, but EWU as a team was just 6-of-20 (33 percent) from the arc in the game and 3-of-13 (23 percent) in the second half.
 
The game closed EWU's five-game road stretch, in which EWU was 0-5. Last season, in just the third game under Legans of his head coaching career, Eastern upset Stanford 81-67 on Nov. 14, 2017.
 
"They are starting to get all the way back to their rhythm and flow," added Legans of his team, which hosts South Dakota State on Tuesday (Dec. 18). "It's sometimes hard on the road, but I don't want it to be easy on these guys. We'd like it to show in the win column, but they are a proud basketball team. They are talking about what they need to do tomorrow to get ready for our game on Tuesday. Having players like that really builds you up as a coach."
 

Records . . .
 
* The Eagles are 1-8, and have gone 0-5 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.
 
* The Cardinal are 5-4 on the season, and hadn't played since nearly upsetting Kansas on Dec. 1. Stanford lost 90-84 in overtime, just three days after defeating Portland State 79-67. Stanford opened the season with a 96-74 win over Seattle, a team EWU lost to by an 88-68 score on Dec. 1. Six-foot-9 sophomore KZ Okpala paces Stanford, having entered the EWU game with averages of 17.0 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. Cormac Ryan, a 6-5 freshman, adds 10.9 points, and Daejon Davis is averaging 9.0 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.8 assists. Davis is a 6-3 sophomore and a graduate of Seattle's Garfield High School.
 
 
What's Next . . .
 
* 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 Tuesday (Dec. 18) at 6:05 p.m. at Reese Court. The Jackrabbits are 9-3 heading into Saturday night's game at Nevada, and feature one of the nation's top players in 6-foot-9 senior forward Mike Daum, a two-time All-America honorable mention selection and NBA prospect. 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.
 
* South Dakota State is ranked high in the Collegeinsider.com mid-major top 25 rankings, with the Jackrabbits currently 10th. Eastern's Big Sky Conference rival Montana (5-3) is 19th, and Seattle (9-3) received three votes in the poll released Dec. 10. Eastern's first home game since Nov. 17 will come against a team with a pair of 20-point scorers. Through 12 games, the 6-foot-9 Daum is averaging 26.2 points, 10.8 rebounds and 2.0 assists as a senior. David Jenkins Jr., a 6-2 sophomore guard, has averaged 22.5 points per game as the Jackrabbits average 87.9 as a team. South Dakota State has averaged nearly 10 3-pointers per game, with Daum and Jenkins combining for 66 of their team's 118. Skyler Flatten, a 6-6 senior guard, has made 29 to chip in an average of 14.9 points per game.
 

Top Performers . . .
 
* Senior Jesse Hunt scored 27 points, coming just five from his career high of 32 set versus UMKC in EWU's last victory on Nov. 17. He made 9-of-15 shots from the floor and had four rebounds, having entered the game with four double-doubles on the season and five in his career.  He has now had 15 career double-figure scoring performances in his career to go along with six performances with 10 or more rebounds.
* Sophomore Luka Vulikic sank 4-of-11 shots from the floor and also had four rebounds in three assists. He has scored 49 points (12.3 average) in his last four games after scoring 18 in his first five (3.6 average).
* Sophomore Jack Perry and senior Cody Benzel both scored six points for the Eagles, but both were just 2-of-7 from the field and combined for 4-of-12 shooting from the 3-point line.
 

Key Stats . . .

* Eastern had five different players score during an early 6-of-6 shooting stretch to help EWU take a 14-4 lead. The Eagles took their largest lead at the night at 17-5 with 11:25 remaining in the half. But the Eagles cooled off to make just six of their next 21 to allow Stanford back in the game. Eastern finished at 21-of-52 for 40.4 percent. Stanford, which made just one of its first 10 shots, sank 27 of its last 39 (69 percent) to finish at 57 percent for the game (28-of-49).
 
  
Notables . . .

* Including Stanford, the Eagles have played just twice all-time versus their next three opponents. Eastern has never played South Dakota State, and beat Stanford 67-61 last season 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.
 
* Following the loss to Stanford, Eastern is now 3-45 versus the Pac-12 since EWU moved to NCAA Division I in the 1983-84 season. Eastern has defeated Washington and Washington State once, and last year's Stanford victory was the third and snapped a 21-game losing streak versus that league.
 

Comments from Head Coach Shantay Legans . . .
 
On Team Versus Stanford: "They followed the game plan – some shots didn't fall in the second half but they played tough and they played hard. We were right there and had the lead for a long time in this game. We let it slip away at the very end and the score doesn't indicate it. But we were right there, and that's all you can ask for in a game like this on a Saturday after a Thursday game."
 
On Early Start and Second Half: "We made some open shots, and Jesse and Luka made great decisions to get shots for other players. When you do that and put teams on their heels and start making some free throws, it really puts them in a bind. Their big guys are good, but they can't guard our team on the perimeter. In the second half they got us on the glass, and we have to do a better job fighting on the glass. That's part of the game and you have to fight through it. I think our guys did, but some of the shots came up short."