Having Mason Peatling back in the lineup couldn't have come at a better time for the Eastern Washington University men''s basketball team.
 
With Big Sky Conference play next on the calendar for EWU, five Eagles scored in double figures as Eastern continued its four-game homestand with a 92-73 victory over Corban University on Friday (Dec. 21) at Reese Court in Cheney, Wash.
 
Cody Benzel (23), Jesse Hunt (14), Tyler Kidd (14), Austin Fadal (13) and Jacob Davison (11) all scored in double figures in the victory in which no Eagle played more than 26 minutes. Eastern won for the first time since Nov. 17 and had season highs for points and assists (20), and sank 13-of-32 3-point shots for a best this season of 40.6 percent.
 
It was EWU's final non-conference tune-up of the season before beginning Big Sky Conference play at home on Dec. 29 and 31. The game was an exhibition for Corban, and does not count in the season record or statistics for the member of NAIA and the Cascade Collegiate Conference.
 
"A win is a big win for us," said Eastern head coach Shantay Legans. "We played a lot of players tonight and not a lot of minutes – we wanted to get some guys some rest. We wanted to see what Mason looked like on the inside and outside. We wanted to get some of our players going – Jacob, Austin and Tyler all scored in double digits, Jesse played well and Cody came in and had one of his 3-point barrages. We made 13 threes at about a 40 percent clip which is good for us."
 
Peatling made his season debut and started for the Eagles, and finished with four points on 2-of-6 shooting, seven rebounds and four assists. He was an honorable mention All-Big Sky Conference selection last year as a sophomore.
 
"He played only 18 minutes, but he had four offensive rebounds and four assists – he's an unbelievable passer and screener," said Legans. "We play a little more efficiently with him in the lineup. He does a lot of talking back there on defense and is our anchor. We are only going to get better with Mason out there."
 
Eastern fell behind early by scores of 8-2 and 11-7, but then went on a 21-2 run that was fueled by five points by Kidd and eight by Fadal. Two free throws by Hunt gave EWU a 28-13 with 7:01 left, and EWU led 46-38 at halftime with Benzel pouring in 11 points with a trio of 3-pointers.
 
Eastern led by as many as 20 points in the second half and no fewer than 10 in the second half.
 

Records . . .
 
* The Eagles are 2-9, and snapped a six-game losing streak which had started on Nov. 27. Eastern went a full month without a home game, and won for the first time since Nov. 17 when the Eagles beat UMKC 87-80 in overtime at home.
 
* Although the EWU game doesn't count in their record, the Warriors are 9-4 on the season, but have lost their last two games. Corban replaced Walla Walla on EWU's schedule after the Wolves canceled their 2018-19 season on Oct. 24.
 
 
 
What's Next . . .
 
* Eastern will plays its Big Sky Conference openers at home at Reese Court versus Weber State (Dec. 29) and Idaho State (Dec. 31). The Weber State game will begin at 2:05 p.m. and will be televised regionally on SWX, while the ISU game begins at 1:05 p.m.
 

Top Performers . . .
 
* Senior Cody Benzel had the third performance in his career of 20 points or more, finishing with 23. He sank 7-of-13 3-pointers to equal his career high, and came just two points from his best scoring output as an Eagle of 25 points. He also had a pair of steals.
* True freshman Austin Fadal finished with 13 points, one behind his season high. He made 6-of-8 shots from the field.
* Junior Tyler Kidd had a season-high nine points, eclipsing his previous best of nine versus Syracuse in EWU's season opener. He made 5-of-6 from the field and had a team-high three steals.
* Senior Jesse Hunt scored 14 points to go along with six assists, two steals and a pair of rebounds. Hunt entered the game with four double-doubles on the season and five in his career.  He has now had 16 career double-figure scoring performances in his career to go along with seven performances with 10 or more rebounds.
* Sophomore Jacob Davison finished with 11 points and a pair of steals, and made 5-of-6 free throws. He was coming off his second 20-point performance in his last four games, finishing with a team-high 20 versus South Dakota State on Dec. 18.
* True freshman Elijah Jackson had four points, four rebounds and a team-high three steals in just 17 minutes of action.
 

Key Stats . . .

* Eastern was on pace for its first 50-percent shooting night of the season, but finished at 47.1 percent with 13 3-pointers in 32 attempts (40.6 percent). Overall it was EWU's second-best shooting night of the season (48.2 percent versus Green Bay) and best from the 3-point arc (37.5 percent/9-of-24 versus UMKC). Eastern also had season highs for points, assists (20), steals (16) and turnovers forced (21).
 
  
Notables . . .

* Eastern evened its record at home this season to 2-2. In the previous four seasons, EWU has gone 46-6 at Reese Court, including an 11-1 mark last season and 15-1 record in 2016-17.
 

Comments from Head Coach Shantay Legans . . .
 
On Final Non-Conference Game: "Heading into Big Sky play, we want to be peaking and playing our best basketball during this stretch. We have a lot of weapons we can use. I really like the guards we have, and getting Mason back helps us out on the perimeter. Jesse can now get on the outside more than he has – he can drive against bigger guys and he's been shooting the ball pretty well out there. It's going to be hard for teams to guard him, especially with Mason inside."
 
On Luka Vulikic Sitting Out: "We still can't get our full team on the floor together. Luka was held out for precautionary reasons, but if this was a league game he would have probably played."
 
On Shooting: "When we start league and play teams are the same size of us, I think our percentages will increase. Last year we were at 50/40/90 during the season from the field, three and free throws, and I think we'll get back there. We have very skilled and talented players, especially when they have the ball in their hands. They move it around a lot – we had 20 assists tonight with only four turnovers. That's a big step forward for this team."
 
On Benzel: "He's a great shooter, and when the ball is moving around and he gets open looks, he's going to make a lot. We've struggled hitting some shots early in the season, but we talk in the locker room that it's going to happen because our players work so hard. When you have players who are confident in their shots and their game, they are going to make a lot of shots. Cody is a very confident player, and he could be 1-of-10 and he'll shoot 10 more threes if he's open. He's never going to waver from shooting threes."