It was agonizingly close.
 
The Eastern Washington University men's basketball team pulled within a single point on 10 different occasions, but South Dakota State led from start to finish for a 74-64 victory as EWU started a four-game homestand Tuesday (Dec. 18) at Reese Court in Cheney, Wash.
 
Sophomore Jacob Davison led the Eagles with 20 points, including four 3-pointers as the Eagles equaled a season high with 13. Sophomore Jack Perry also had four treys, and finished with a season-high 14 points.
 
Eastern leading scorer and rebounder Jesse Hunt added eight points, 12 rebounds and a career-high eight assists going against 6-foot-9 NBA prospect Mike Daum. Daum finished with 27 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Jackrabbits, who were held to 42.6 percent shooting and 12 points below their season average of 86.4 points per game.
 
"Jesse had 12 rebounds tonight and they did a good job of keying on him and he had eight assists," said Eastern head coach Shantay Legans. "We're getting better – we're moving the ball and had 15 assists, which is pretty good. The 15 turnovers wasn't great, and then we had some defensive assignment letdowns which really hurt our team."
 
Eastern missed its first four shots of the game and fell into a quick 9-0 hole. The Eagles battled back to cut the lead to one on four occasions, but could never take the lead and trailed 36-32 at halftime. It was much of the same in the second half as EWU pulled within one six different times.
 
But a 5-0 run gave the Jackrabbits some breathing room with a nine-point lead with 5:22 to play, and the closest EWU could come the rest of the way was five. North Dakota State has advanced to the NCAA Tournament the last three years and five of the last seven.
 
"They made plays," said Legans. "There were some opportunities for us. They showed their veteran savvy, you could say. They've been in that situation before."
 
Eastern continued its shooting struggles, making just 38.9 percent of its shots overall. The Eagles sank 13-of-38 3-point attempts for 34.2 percent.
 

Records . . .
 
* The Eagles are 1-9, and recently finished 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 Jackrabbits are 10-4, having suffered a 72-68 loss at unbeaten Nevada (11-0) last Saturday. They feature one of the nation's top players in 6-foot-9 senior forward Mike Daum, a two-time All-America honorable mention selection. Last year the Jackrabbits finished 28-7, won The Summit League title with a 13-1 record and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. South Dakota State is ranked high in the Collegeinsider.com mid-major top 25 rankings, with the Jackrabbits currently 14th (10th prior to the Nevada loss).
 
 
What's Next . . .
 
* This Friday (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. Eastern will then play its Big Sky Conference openers at home versus Weber State (Dec. 29) and Idaho State (Dec. 31).
 

Top Performers . . .
 
* Senior Jesse Hunt was 2-of-7 from the field and 4-of-6 from the free throw line to finish with eight points – just the second time in his last eight games he has failed to hit double figures. He made up for it by equaling his career high with 12 rebounds, and doubling his previous career high with eight assists. His previous high was four in EWU's win over UMKC on Nov. 17. Hunt 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 seven performances with 10 or more rebounds.
* Sophomore Jacob Davison had his second 20-point performance in his last four games, finishing with a team-high 20. He made 6-of-12 from the field, 4-of-9 from the 3-point stripe and all four of his free throws. He also added five rebounds and three assists.
* Sophomore Jack Perry eclipsed his previous season high of 11 points by finishing with 14 against the Jackrabbits. He made 5-of-10 from the field, including 4-of-9 3-point attempts.
* Senior Cody Benzel chipped in nine points by hitting 3-of-8 3-pointers on the night to go along with three rebounds and a pair of steals.
 

Key Stats . . .

* As they have all season, a pair of 20-point scorers for the Jackrabbits filled up the stat sheet. Mike Daum poured in 27 points and David Jenkins Jr. had 12 – all in the first half -- with a pair of 3-pointers. The 6-9 Daum, a definite NBA prospect, entered the game averaging 24.5 points, 10.6 rebounds and 2.0 assists as a senior. Jenkins, a 6-2 sophomore guard from Tacoma, Wash., has averaged 21.1 points per game as the Jackrabbits average 86.4 as a team. South Dakota State entered averaging nearly 10 3-pointers per game, with Daum and Jenkins combining for 67 of their team's 129. Skyler Flatten, a 6-6 senior guard, had made 33 to chip in an average of 15.3 points per game. He scored 20 versus the Eagles with a trio of treys.
 
  
Notables . . .

* Eastern used its sixth different starting lineup of the season as sophomore guard Steven Beo made the first start of his EWU career. Coming off an injury that kept him out of eight of EWU's first nine games, he played only six minutes and had a missed shot, two fouls and a rebound. Forward Mason Peatling, an honorable mention All-Big Sky selection for the Eagles, has yet to play this season while he also recovers from an injury.
 
* Including South Dakota State, the Eagles have played just once versus their final two opponents of the non-conference season. Eastern has never played South Dakota State. 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.
 
* North Dakota's final year of membership in the Big Sky was in 2017-18 before moving to the Summit League, but the Eagles will play the Fighting Hawks again in the future as part of a four-year rivalry series between the two leagues. Members of the Big Sky Conference and Summit League have agreed to a four-year men's basketball series involving four teams from each league, which begins during the 2018-19 season. Eastern's next home game versus South Dakota State on Dec. 18 is part of that series, as well as EWU's 74-67 loss at North Dakota State on Dec. 8. Each school will play one home game and road contest against separate schools from the other league during each of the four seasons. Big Sky schools participating are Eastern, Montana State, Montana and Idaho. The Summit is represented by North Dakota State, North Dakota, Omaha and South Dakota State.
 
 

Comments from Head Coach Shantay Legans . . .
 
On Outcome: "It was a tough game. South Dakota State is a really good basketball team. They have very talented players and that's probably the best big guy we've played in a long time. He's skilled, big, strong and makes great decisions for his team. They are well-coached and they've been to the tournament. They are savvy in certain situations and that's something we're going to learn from."
 
On Lineup: "We started four underclassmen and Jesse. Before Big Sky play we're trying to find the players who will step up with him. Luka is doing a great job and tonight Jack came out and shot the ball well. We have to see who is going to ring that bell with Jesse. We'll get Mason (Peatling) back here shortly, and that will give us another big guy inside so Jesse doesn't have to play out of position and guard 6-9 and 6-10 opponents. We're playing him there right now and he's doing a great job."