The Eagles – the Eastern Washington University kind – had a gutty effort three time zones away.
 
The Eastern men's basketball team took a pair of leads with inside of four minutes left, but couldn't pull out a huge upset Wednesday (Nov. 20) and fell 72-68 to Boston College from the Atlantic Coast Conference at the Conte Forum.
 
Eastern traveled all the way to Massachusetts to play its first-ever meeting against the BC Eagles as part of the Gotham Classic. Junior Jacob Davison led the way for EWU by finishing with 26 points, eight rebounds and three steals after scoring just two points a week earlier at Saint Louis. Sophomore Kim Aiken Jr. had his third-straight double-double with 17 points and 13 rebounds.
 
Eastern took its first lead early in the second half at 46-45, then secured another with 3:44 remaining on a 3-pointer by Aiken and yet another with 1:58 to play on a trey by true freshman Tyler Robertson.
 
But BC responded just 17 seconds later with a 3-pointer of its own by Jay Heath, then closed out the game by making five free throws in the last 24 seconds, with EWU's final points coming on a 3-pointer by Davison with 10 seconds left. Eastern allowed a BC offensive rebound and a turnover in the final seconds, and was unable to get off a potential game-winning or game-tying shot.
 
"You feel for our guys because we came out here and played a great game," said Eastern head coach Shantay Legans of just the fourth time an Eastern team has played a current member of the ACC. "We came out and played hard and tough and I'm proud of that."
 
Eastern trailed early 12-0, but came alive with a 10-0 run mid-way through that half that was fueled by Davison. He scored all 10 of EWU's points, and his dunk with 7:27 remaining pulled EWU to within 21-19.
 
The Eagles made four 3-pointers the rest of the half, including one by Davison to knot the score at 28 and give him 13 tallies for the half. Eastern trailed at intermission 33-31.
 
Early in the second half, Davison hit another 3-pointer to give EWU its first lead of the game at 46-45. Boston College regained a six-point lead, but Casson Rouse scored all six of his points in a 6-2 Eagle run to cut the lead to two. Eastern eventually took back the lead twice with Aiken's 3-pointer and Robertson's big shot.
 
Eastern held its own against the bigger foe, and actually had more offensive rebounds than BC (13-9) while being out-rebounded by just two (42-40). However, EWU was just 3-of-6 at the free throw line compared to 19-of-26 for Boston College, which had three fewer field goals than the EWU Eagles.
 
"We battled hard on the boards with a bigger team, and had 13 offensive boards to their nine," added Legans, whose team was out-shot 40 percent to 38 percent. "We just have to play smarter – our strength is as a smart basketball club, and we haven't played smart offensively the last two games. Defensively we did a sound job, but we have to slow some guys down in certain situations."
 
 
Records . . .
 
* Eastern is 2-2 on the season. An injury-plagued season in 2018-19 ended with a second-straight appearance in the Big Sky Conference Tournament championship game for the Eagles, and four of the main players from that squad return. Eastern had its fourth-straight season with 10 Big Sky wins or more and a sixth-straight year with a winning league record in finishing 12-9 in the league and 16-18 overall.
 
* The BC Eagles are 4-1 after finishing 14-17 overall a year ago and 5-13 in the ACC. Boston College features lots of size throughout its lineup, plus graduate student and double-transfer Derryck Thornton, who is originally out of Findlay Prep in Los Angeles, Calif. Thornton was one of four players in double figures against EWU, finishing with 14 and five assists.
 
* While EWU was playing in an offensive-minded game in an 80-62 loss at Saint Louis on Nov. 13 in Missouri, Boston College was playing a defensive battle against High Point and prevailed 59-33. The BC Eagles followed that with a 100-85 home loss to Belmont, a 27-win NCAA Tournament team from a year ago Eastern hosts on Nov. 26.
 
 
What's Next . . .
 
* Eastern continues its trek on the road and in the Gotham Classic this Saturday, taking on a High Point University team coached by Tubby Smith. Tipoff is 11 a.m. Pacific time at the Millis Center in in a game televised by ESPN+. Because of the EWU football game also played on Saturday, the Eastern-High Point game will be broadcast on radio on 920-AM & 100.7-FM in the Spokane/Cheney with Trevor Williams calling the play-by-play. Following Saturday's game, the Eagles return home for a Gotham Classic game versus Belmont on Nov. 26. Eastern has never played Boston College, High Point or Belmont before, and now plays the first-ever meetings against those schools in a seven-day span.
 
* Located in High Point, N.C., the Panthers are in the Big South Conference and coached by Tubby Smith, who entered the year 613-317 in 28 seasons as a collegiate head coach. He was head coach for Kentucky when the Wildcats won the 1998 NCAA Tournament title. Although 0-5 this year after a 67-55 loss at Saint Louis on Nov. 20, High Point was 16-15 a year ago in Smith's first season at the helm, and finished 9-7 in league play.
 
 
Top Performers . . .
 
* Davison scored his 26 points on 10-of-25 shooting from the field, making 5-of-13 3-point attempts. Aiken also made five 3-pointers on 11 attempts, and was 6-of-14 overall from the field. He also had a pair of steals. Robertson came off the bench to hit 3-of-4 shots and finished with eight points, and Rouse added six.
 
* Senior Tyler Kidd chipped in seven points and had a team-high five assists, with senior Mason Peatling finishing with four points, four rebounds and three assists while playing just 29 minutes before fouling out.
 
 
More Notes . . .
 
* Eastern's game versus Boston College was the first-ever meeting between the two schools, and just the fourth ever against a current team in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Eastern lost to Pitt, Virginia Tech and Syracuse (just last season in 2019) in those other three games versus the ACC.
 
* Eastern is playing four games this November – including a home game against Belmont -- as part of the Gotham Classic, which is presented by the Gazelle Group. More information on the event is available at: http://www.gazellegroup.com/main/gotham. Besides EWU and Belmont, other teams include Saint Louis, Boston College and High Point. The Eagles appeared in the 2015 Gotham Classic, and in recent years have participated in several other events hosted by the Gazelle Group. Eastern's four games in the tournament are highlighted by a home game versus Belmont on Tuesday, Nov. 26 at Reese Court in Cheney, Wash. Located in Nashville, Tenn., the Bruins finished 27-6 a year ago and received an at-large bid as a No. 11 seed to the NCAA Tournament. Belmont beat Temple 81-70 in the "First Four" and then fell to Maryland 79-77 in the first round. As part of the Gotham Classic, EWU will also play at Saint Louis on Nov. 13, Boston College on Nov. 20 and High Point on Nov. 23 in games that will take the Eagles to Missouri, Massachusetts and North Carolina. First played in 2012, the Gotham Classic features five teams from across the country in one of the most competitive events of its kind. In eight short years, the tournament has attracted the likes of Syracuse, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Louisville, Memphis, Davidson, Pittsburgh, NC State, and West Virginia, among a host of other prominent programs.
 
 
More Comments from Head Coach Shantay Legans . . .
 
On Result: "We fell behind 12-0 and only got to the line six times while the other team gets there 26 times. It's a tough way to go, but you have to give Boston College credit. They are well-coached and a good team, and they played hard and did everything they needed to win. You have to give them a lot of credit. When you come on the road you just can't get down 12-0 early in the game, especially to a team from the ACC."
 
On Davison & Aiken: "Those two players are very dynamic offensive players – they are both good shooters. They are going to get their shooting percentages up – it's early in the season. They will figure out where they are going to get their shots, and as we move forward for the season it's going to be good for those two guys and Mason too.
 
On Freshmen Robertson & Rouse: "They played great and we rely on those two guys, and Tyler Kidd came in did some solid things and made some plays in crunch time. You want guys to step up guys in games like this. Mason got two quick fouls early and couldn't play at the end because he fouled out. Then they got a rebound in a free throw and it starts to snowball. We have to play better in certain situations and we didn't, but I was proud of the way Tyler and Casson played."
 
On Not Being Able to Keep Lead: "Every time we did get the defensive stop they got an offensive rebound. We have to come up with those plays – those are winning plays and those are what makes winning basketball teams. We have guys in the right position, we just have to finish the play. We talk about it all the time – finish the defense – and we have to make sure we get there with that."