The grit of the Eagles came shining through with the game on the line.
 
The Eastern Washington University men's basketball team held Idaho State to just 22 second-half points and concluded a four-game homestand with a 65-55 Big Sky Conference victory over the Bengals on New Year's Eve (Dec. 31) at Reese Court in Cheney, Wash.
 
In a battle that featured seven lead changes and a pair of ties in the last 15:53 of the game, Eastern pulled away in the final 3:30 with a 9-0 run. The Eagles forced ISU into four turnovers and 1-of-5 shooting in the last 3:23 with the game on the line, then sank 6-of-6 free throws in the final minute to clinch the victory.
 
It was Eastern's best defensive performance of the season, with the previous low opponent point total 66 in EWU's season opener at Syracuse. The Eagles allowed Weber State to score 84 in the league opener on Saturday for both teams, a loss which dropped EWU to 2-10 on the season.
 
"To be honest, this was a must-win for us," said Eastern head coach Shantay Legans. "Our players have been in the gym working on their game and trying to get their shots back. Coaches have been working tirelessly trying to figure it out. We have some of the best players in the league, and it's tough to be 2-10. But we are competitors. This was a huge game for us to get this win."
 
Eastern junior Mason Peatling paced four Eagles in double figures with 16 points, including a key three-point play with 2:53 left to give EWU its biggest lead of the game at the time. Jacob Davison followed with another big basket at the 1:26 mark on his way to finishing with 15 points. Jesse Hunt finished with 12 points, nine rebounds and five assists, and Ty Gibson came off the bench to hit a trio of key 3-pointers and score 11 in the game.
 
"Tonight we had a big second half and Ty Gibson came up big, and we won the game because of our defense," added Legans.
 
Eastern missed its first seven shots of the game and fell behind 8-0, but ended up with its best shooting effort of the season against a NCAA Division I opponent at 46.4 percent. Boosted by the energetic play of Tyler Kidd off the bench, Eastern made 13 of its last 24 shots of the first half and pulled within 33-29 at halftime.
 
A 6-0 run in the second half gave EWU its first lead of the game with 15:53 left, as back-to-back baskets by Peatling capped the run and gave EWU a 3-point lead. Later, it was Gibson's turn to give the Eagles a lift as he broke out of a 1-of-14 slump from the 3-point line by making three in a row.
 
The Eagles shot at a 52.0 percent clip in the final 20 minutes while holding ISU to 36.0 percent. Eastern also forced 17 turnovers and had 10 steals – both season highs versus Division I competition this season.
 

Records . . .
 
* The Eagles are 3-10, and 1-1 in Big Sky Conference play. Eastern started league play in full health after Mason Peatling made his season debut as a starter versus Corban in a 92-73 Eagle win on Dec. 21. That victory had snapped a six-game losing streak with the first five on the road.
 
* Idaho State is now 5-6 overall and 1-1 in the Big Sky after opening league play with a 72-55 win at Idaho on Dec. 29. The Bengals are 2-1 at home and 3-5 on the road thus far.
 
 
What's Next . . .
 
* Eastern plays at Idaho on Thursday (Jan. 3) in a game that will be televised in the Spokane area on SWX. The game will begin at approximately 7:30 p.m. after the EWU women take on the Vandals at 5:15 p.m. The Vandals fell 93-87 at home to Weber State on Monday to drop to 3-10 overall and 0-2 in the Big Sky.
 
* 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, while Idaho was picked sixth by the media and ninth by the coaches. 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. Idaho was the regular season runner-up last year at 14-4 and finished 22-9 for the season.
 

Top Performers . . .
 
* In just his third game back, Mason Peatling led Eastern with 16 points to give him a 15.0 average for the season. He was 7-of-9 from the field and also had eight rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocked shots. One game earlier versus Weber State, he scored a career-high 25 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.
* Sophomore Jacob Davison had 15 points, four rebounds and a pair of steals, making 7-of-14 shots from the field.
* Senior Jesse Hunt came a rebound away from a double-double, finishing with 12 points, nine rebounds and a team-high five assists. Hunt entered the game with four double-doubles on the season and five in his career.  He has now had 17 career double-figure scoring performances in his career to go along with eight performances with 10 or more rebounds.
* Senior Ty Gibson had his first double-figure scoring performance since EWU's fifth game of the season on Nov. 17, finishing with 11 points on 3-of-3 shooting from the 3-point stripe and making both of his free throws. He was mired in a 1-of-14 slump shooting 3-pointers, and had scored just seven points in his last seven games.
* Junior Tyler Kidd sparked the Eagles with four steals to go along with six points on 4-of-4 shooting from the free throw line and three assists. He was coming off a season-high 12 points against Weber State, 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.
 

Key Stats . . .

Eastern sank only 5-of-15 3-pointers, but made 21-of-41 shots from inside the arc to finish at 46.4 percent on the day. That ranks as the top performance against a NCAA Division I opponent this season and only behind the 47.1 percent the Eagles shot against Corban. Defensively, Eastern held Idaho State to 41.5 percent shooting overall and 8-of-24 (33.3 percent) from the 3-point stripe, one game after allowing Weber State to make 53.4 percent overall and 53.3 percent from distance (8-of-15). Those were both the second-highest performances against the Eagles this season.
 
  
Notables . . .

* Eastern is now 47-29 all-time against ISU, including a 44-28 record since becoming a member of NCAA Division I in the 1983-84 season (15-19 on the road, 28-8 at home, 1-1 at neutral sites). The Eagles have won 15 of the last 17 meetings overall and 14 of the last 15 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.


Comments from Head Coach Shantay Legans . . .
 
On Defense: "Defense is always going to win us games, and it's something we've been preaching since last year. We have great defensive players and a lot of players who make plays. We played defense today the way can, and held a team like Idaho State to 22 points in the second half. We aren't always going to shoot well, but defense travels."
 
On Ty Gibson: "He's an unbelievable young man – he has a 3.99 grade point average, is a great leader and does a lot in the community. He shoots in the gym all the time, but they haven't been falling for him. He played about 10 seconds in the first half to play defense, but he stuck with it. He played nine minutes tonight and those were the biggest nine minutes of the season for our team. We needed a win and he stayed ready. He has great character and I'm glad he's on our team. The shots are going to fall for him – I see great things ahead for him. I couldn't be happier for him."