­­­­­­­Eastern Washington University "Eagles" Men's Basketball (2-10/0-1 Big Sky) Monday, Dec. 31 – Idaho State ­– 1:05 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 3 – at Idaho ­– 7:30 p.m. (approx.) all times Pacific
Radio:	Eastern games are on 700-AM ESPN & 105.3-FM in the Spokane/Cheney area. Larry Weir calls the play-by-play (Bob Castle at Stanford). Broadcasts begin a half-hour prior to tipoff
Internet Radio:	https://tunein.com/radio/Eastern-Washington-Eagles-Sports-Network-s273711/
Radio  Mobile Phone App:	Via tunein radio
TV:	None for Idaho State; the Idaho game is televised regionally on SWX, including the women's game which begins at 5:15 p.m.
­­­Webcast:	http://watchbigsky.com or Pluto Channel 234 for EWU home games
Live Stats:	EWU Home Games: http://ewustats.com
Weekly Coaches Show:	The next scheduled show hosted by Larry Weir and featuring head coach Shantay Legans is scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 8 at 6 p.m. (subject to change) and is aired live on 700-AM ESPN. The show will take place live at Barrelhouse Pub and Pizza in Cheney.

The Eastern Washington University men's basketball team would like nothing better than to end the 2018 calendar year with a home victory.
 
After falling to Weber State 84-72 in their Big Sky Conference opener, the Eagles conclude a four-game homestand with a 1:05 p.m. game on New Year's Eve (Dec. 31) versus Idaho State.
 
All Eastern games will be carried live via radio on 700-AM ESPN and 105.3-FM in the Spokane/Cheney area, with Larry Weir calling the play-by-play. Broadcasts begin a half-hour prior to tipoff.  Fans can also watch the webcast of all league games via PlutoTV and at http://watchbigsky.com.

Idaho State is 5-5 overall after opening league play with a 72-55 win at Idaho on Dec. 29. The Bengals are 2-1 at home and 3-4 on the road thus far, and are led by the 14.9 scoring average of junior guard Brandon Boyd. He scored nine points and had eight assists, five rebounds and four steals versus the Vandals.
 
Junior 6-foot-5 guard Gary Chivichyan paced the Bengals with 24 points against Idaho, including 6-of-9 shooting from the 3-point stripe. He upped his season scoring average to 11.0 on the season as he came one point from his career high. The Bengals made 12-of-32 3-pointers versus the Vandals for 37.5 percent, while holding Idaho to just 2-of-15 from the arc for 13.3 percent.
 
"They play similar to Weber State," said Eastern head coach Shantay Legans after his team's game Saturday in which the Wildcats sank 53.4 percent of their shots overall and 53.3 percent from 3-point range, while holding EWU to 33.3 percent shooting from the 3-point stripe (6-of-18) and 38.8 percent overall. "They don't have the same dribble-drive players, but they shoot the three really well. They get out in transition and play really fast.
 
Eastern started league play with a healthy Mason Peatling, who made his season debut as a starter versus Corban in a 92-73 Eagle win on Dec. 21. He followed that with a career-high 25 against Weber State in a losing effort that dropped EWU's overall record to 2-10 for the season.
 
Eastern was picked to finish fourth in the league in both the coaches and media polls, while Weber State was picked second behind defending regular season and tournament champion Montana. Idaho State was eighth in both polls. A year ago, Weber State and EWU tied for third in the league with 13-5 records, but it was Eastern which advanced to the Big Sky Tournament championship game where it lost to the Grizzlies. Idaho State finished 9-9 in the league last season, as EWU picked up a key late-season road sweep over the Wildcats and Bengals in the lone meetings against those two schools in the 2017-18 season.
 
"It will be a good game to see where our transition defense is at," Legans said of the EWU-ISU matchup. "We have to be smart with our shot selection. And when we have mis-matches and advantages, we have to take those all day long. We'll get better at that."
 
Eastern senior Jesse Hunt, with four double-doubles this season, leads Eastern with averages of 15.1 points, 8.1 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game. Sophomore Jacob Davison is averaging 10.7, including an average of 14.7 in his last three outings. Luka Vulikic has a 7.6 average, and has scored 66 points (11.0 average) in the last six games he's played after scoring 18 in his first five (3.6 average). He also averages a team-leading 3.4 assists per game and 4.1 rebounds.
 
In just his second game back, Peatling made 9-of-17 shots from the field against WSU with a trio of 3-pointers made in four attempts. He also had six rebounds – five on the offensive end – and a pair of assists. He eclipsed his previous high of 19 versus South Dakota and Montana State in the 2017-18 season.
 
That gave EWU four-straight performances of at least 20 points by four different players. Senior Cody Benzel scored 23 versus Corban on Dec. 21, Davison had 20 against South Dakota State on Dec. 18 and Hunt scored 27 at Stanford on Dec. 15.
 
However, Eastern is being out-shot 47.1 percent to 38.2 percent overall this season, including 39.3 percent to 30.7 percent from the 3-point stripe. Also, EWU is now just 2-3 at home at Reese Court, and is 48-9 overall there in the last four-plus seasons (84 percent). 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.
 
"You have to go out here and win some games – these are games we should win," added Legans. "We had a tough preseason and now we are in the Big Sky. If we can't defend our home court and do the things we are supposed to do when other teams come in here, it's going to be a long season. I don't want to have a long season. I want our team to get better and we have to do a better job as coaches to get them ready. We are going to do that."
 
Eastern returns seven total letterwinners from the 2017-18 team, including four starters. However, the Eagles lost the Big Sky and EWU all-time leading scorer in Bogdan Bliznyuk, who was the league MVP and an honorable All-America selection last year after finishing with 2,169 points in his career.
 
The Eagles closed the 2017-18 season with a 20-15 record in their 35th season as a member of NCAA Division I after finishing 13-5 in the league during their 31st season as a member of the Big Sky. Eastern made its fourth-straight national postseason appearance when the team competed in the 2018 College Basketball Invitational (CBI).
 
 
Series Notes
 
* Eastern is 46-29 all-time against ISU, including a 43-28 record since becoming a member of NCAA Division I in the 1983-84 season (15-19 on the road, 27-8 at home, 1-1 at neutral sites). The Eagles have won 14 of the last 16 meetings overall and 13 of the last 14 at Reese Court. Last season, Eastern triumphed in Pocatello 74-69 in the lone meeting between the two schools. Eastern had an overall eight-game winning streak snapped in the 2013-14 season when the Bengals prevailed 72-83 in Pocatello. Eastern won 65-57 at home in the 2014-15 season, extending EWU's home winning streak versus ISU to 13 games dating back to a 65-63 loss on March 1, 2003. Eastern also won later in the year in Pocatello by an 85-81 score, but then lost its home-court winning streak in the lone meeting in 2015-16 with a 75-71 loss at Reese Court.

* Last season versus the Bengals, senior Bogdan Bliznyuk went over the 2,000-point mark in his career and finished with a game-high 17, but three other Eagles scored in double figures as EWU beat Idaho State 74-69 on Feb. 24, 2018, in Pocatello, Idaho. Jack Perry made a career-high five 3-pointers and finished with 16 points, Jacob Davison scored 11 and Cody Benzel had 12 in the second half to help Eastern hold onto fourth place in the league standings. Eastern led by 13 at halftime and 15 early in the second half, but Idaho State came back to take a 69-68 lead with 2:01 left. But a 3-pointer by Bliznyuk with 1:31 gave EWU the lead for good, and a trio of free throws down the stretch by Davison and Perry helped EWU secure it first road sweep in two years. Idaho State made 16 3-pointers two days earlier in an 86-83 win over Idaho, but EWU held the Bengals to 2-of-7 shooting from the 3-point arc in opening a 13-point lead at halftime. The Bengals sank 8-of-12 in the second half, but the Eagles still finished with 11 treys compared to 10 for ISU. For the fourth-straight game, Eastern won the rebounding battle, allowing ISU to finish with just one offensive rebounds while winning the overall battle 32-26. The Eagles had just six turnovers against Idaho State, enabling the Eagles to have a 62-48 advantage in field goal attempts.
 
 
 

Recent Game Recaps

 
Despite Career-High 25 by Peatling, Eastern Falls to Weber State 84-72 in League Opener
 
Despite an early 16-2 run and 21-8 lead in the first half, the Eastern Washington University men's basketball team couldn't sustain the fast start and opened Big Sky Conference play with an 84-72 loss to Weber State on Dec. 29 at Reese Court in Cheney, Wash. The Wildcats, picked to finish second behind pre-season league favorite Montana, used a 20-3 run to open the second half to pull away from EWU. Eastern opened the game making 10 of its first 17 shots, but suffered through a 4-of-25 (16 percent) stretch spanning halftime to fall behind by 21. Junior Mason Peatling scored a career-high 25 points to lead the Eagles on 9-of-17 shooting from the field in just his second game back. Underclassmen Jacob Davison (13), Luka Vulikic (12) and. Tyler Kidd (12) combined for another 37. Eastern held Weber State to just one field goal in a 7:33 stretch in the first half for a collective total of 1-of-10 shooting. The Eagles made 6-of-10 in that stretch and led 21-8 with 10:07 to play. The Wildcats used a 12-0 run to cut into the lead, then led 37-33 at halftime. The Eagles missed their first 10 shots of the second half and the Wildcats used a 12-0 run to take a 57-36 advantage with 13 minutes remaining. Weber State led by as many as 23 and no fewer than 12 the rest of the way. Peatling scored his points on 9-of-17 shooting from the field with a trio of 3-pointers made in four attempts. He also had six rebounds – five on the offensive end – and a pair of assists. He eclipsed his previous high of 19 versus South Dakota and Montana State in the 2017-18 season. Davison had 13 points with three assists, three blocked shots, a pair of steals and two rebounds. He made 7-of-8 free throws but was just 3-of-12 from the field and missed all three of his 3-point attempts. Kidd had a season-high 12 points, sinking 5-of-6 shots from the field and making both of his 3-point attempts. He also had a pair of assists and three rebounds in 17 minutes of playing time. His point total eclipsed his previous best of nine versus Corban in EWU's' last game and against Syracuse in EWU's season opener. Vulikic scored all 12 of his points in the first half and finished 6-of-11 from the field. Senior Jesse Hunt scored just seven points, but he also contributed 11 rebounds, three assists and a pair of steals.. 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 eight performances with 10 or more rebounds. Eastern started hot by making 10 of its first 17 shots for 58.8 percent, but made only 15-of-50 after that for 30 percent. Eastern finished at 38.8 percent for the game (26-of-67), making 6-of-13 3-point shots (33.3 percent). Weber State was the opposite, making just 4-of-14 (28.6 percent) to start the game and 27-of-44 (61.4 percent) to end it. The Wildcats finished at 53.4 percent in the game, the second-highest percentage against the Eagles this season.
 
 
Big Run in First Half Propels Eagles to 92-73 Win
 
Having Mason Peatling back in the lineup couldn't have come at a better time for the Eagles. Closing out its preseason non-league schedule, five Eagles scored in double figures as Eastern continued its four-game homestand with a 92-73 victory over Corban University on 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. 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. 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. 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).