The Eagles jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first half and never looked back as the Eastern Washington University men's basketball team opened its 2019-20 season with a 107-25 victory over Portland Bible College Tuesday (Nov. 5) at Reese Court in Cheney, Wash.
Six players scored in double figures for the Eagles, led by the double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds by sophomore
Tanner Groves. True freshman
Ellis Magnuson had an Eastern freshman record with 11 assists, equaling the 11th-most all-time.
It was Eastern's 75th game in school history of scoring at least 100 points, with the 107 ranking in a tie for 21st all-time. Eastern now goes on the road for four-straight games, starting Saturday (Nov. 9) at Seattle.
"It was fun to get out here and play a game in front of our crowd," said third-year Eastern head coach
Shantay Legans. "We had great crowd support, especially from the student section, which is awesome. We have to continue to keep building on this. We have a big game on Saturday at Seattle, and every game is big. It's always fun to be able to go out there and play against another team."
Eastern led 14-0 early, as the Wildcats didn't score their first points until the 13:15 mark and their first field goal at 11:55. Later, EWU used a 7-0 run to open a 28-8 lead, then late in the half scored 17 unanswered points to take a 52-12 halftime lead. The Eagles held PBC 4:28 without scoring during that stretch.
Davison led the Eagles with 11 points in the first half, and Magnuson had seven of his assists.
Redshirt freshman
Casson Rouse, who would finish with 14 points for Eastern – all in the second half -- sank four early 3-pointers after intermission to help put the Eagles up 73-14. The Eagles led by as many as 84 with 3:02 left.
Eastern finished the game forcing 34 turnovers, leading to a 53-2 advantage in points off turnovers. Eastern also had a 58-6 lead in points in the paint, 39-0 in fast-break points, 57-16 in bench points and 16-0 in second-chance points. EWU sank 55.1 percent of its shots from the field compared to just 14.3 percent for PBC.
Records . . .
* Eastern is 1-0 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.
* Now 0-2, the Wildcats were 3-20 a year ago and are coached by Mike Arnold. They are a member of the National Christian Collegiate Athletics Association (NCCAA), and had Elite Eight national tournament appearances in 2015 and 2017. They are also a member of the Pacific Christian Athletic Conference.
What's Next . . .
* Eastern begins a four-game road stretch at Seattle on Nov. 9. Then, the Eagles play three games in the Gotham Classic versus Saint Louis, Boston College and High Point, before returning home for a Gothic Classic game versus Belmont on Nov. 26.
Top Performers . . .
* Junior
Jacob Davison led the Eagles with 15 points, with redshirt freshman
Casson Rouse and sophomore
Kim Aiken Jr. each finishing with 14. Sophomore
Tanner Groves had his second career double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds, and redshirt freshman
Michael Meadows had 10. Senior
Mason Peatling chipped in 10 points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots. True freshman
Ellis Magnuson had 11 assists in his Eagle debut, and also cracked the starting lineup. His total equaled the 11th most in school history, and was a record for an Eastern freshman.
More Notes . . .
* Senior
Mason Peatling is back after earning second team All-Big Sky honors for the Eagles, with junior
Jacob Davison earning third team accolades despite missing the last 10 games with an ankle injury. Both were among the six players chosen league-wide as preseason All-Big Sky selections for the 2019-20 season. Peatling averaged 15.3 points and 7.2 rebounds a year ago, while Davison averaged 15.2 per outing. Until he suffered an ankle injury on Feb. 16, 2019, and forcing him to miss the last 10 games, Davison had averaged 18.5 points in league play, including 23.8 points in his last nine outings. Peatling was also selected to the Big Sky All-Tournament team after averaging 20.3 points and 9.3 rebounds in three games while sinking 62.9 percent of his shots from the field. He missed EWU's first nine games with a toe injury, and his return turned out to be the turning point of the season for the Eagles.
* Peatling and Davison are joined by sophomore
Kim Aiken Jr., who averaged 11.3 points, 8.3 rebounds and 2.0 blocked shots with a pair of double-doubles in his first postseason experience. As a result, he also earned Big Sky All-Tournament accolades. Aiken ended his redshirt freshman season with an average of 6.5 points and 4.9 rebounds per outing as a sub off the bench in 19 of the 30 games he played.
* Eastern's third returning starter is point guard
Tyler Kidd, who averaged 12.0 points and 3.8 assists. In all, Eastern returns eight letterwinners while losing four. Eastern's 18-player roster is rounded out by six newcomers, a trio of 2018-19 redshirts and a transfer who had to sit out most of last season with an injury.
Comments from Head Coach Shantay Legans . . .
On Getting Playing Time For Younger Players: "It was fun to get our guys an opportunity to play – a lot of players who may not get many minutes early in the season got to play and contribute a lot.
On Ellis Magnuson: "We're really looking to him to be a big-time player for us in the future. So we're excited about that."
On Getting a Chance to Play: "We didn't run our offense too much – we just came out and played and ran some multiple flex offense. We did some things to just get our guys up-and-down and play against somebody different. The guys had a great time, and seeing the smiles on their faces showed they were able to let loose and have a little fun. It was good to see."
