The Eastern Washington University men's basketball team fell victim to a first-half scoring barrage by second-ranked Gonzaga on Saturday (Dec. 21) and went on to fall to the Bulldogs 112-77 at the McCarthey Center in nearby Spokane, Wash.
 
Eastern was facing its highest-ranked opponent in school history when the Eagles played the No. 2 Bulldogs, and gave up 64 points in the first half alone. A 36-percent shooting half by the Eagles complicated matters, and Gonzaga led by as many as 34 points in the first half and no fewer than 21 after intermission.
 
The Eagles still finished its non-conference schedule 7-4, a .636 winning percentage second only in EWU's 37-year NCAA Division I history to the 9-4 record (69.2 percent) by EWU's NCAA Tournament team in 2014-15.
 
"It wasn't our day against Gonzaga, and we were playing against probably the No. 1 team in the country come Monday," said Eastern head coach Shantay Legans, whose team was out-scored just 48-44 in the second half. "I wish we would have given them a fight for 40 minutes, but we gave a fight for 20 minutes. We can learn from that and push ourselves into the Big Sky Conference season with an effort like that."
 
Junior Jacob Davison led Eastern with 17 points. Senior Tyler Kidd had a season-high 16 points, hitting 5-of-5 from the field with two 3-pointers, plus 4-of-4 free throws. Sophomore Kim Aiken Jr. added 11 points, but had only five rebounds to end his string of three-straight games with double-doubles.
 
Eastern was out-rebounded 49-34 and gave up 21 offensive boards to the Bulldogs. Gonzaga had a 30-14 advantage in second-chance points and 29-19 off turnovers as five GU players scored in double figures.
 
Nationally, both the Eagles and Bulldogs entered the game ranked in the top four in NCAA Division I scoring, with EWU leading at 90.7 per game and Gonzaga fourth at 86.4 The Eagles were also No. 2 in assists (19.9) with Gonzaga 13th (17.3).
 
Seven Gonzaga players entered the game averaging at least 9.8 points, with the Bulldogs now defeating Eastern 25-straight times dating back to EWU's last victory in 1990. The two teams hadn't met since Nov. 11, 2011.
 
Eastern forged an early 6-6 tie, but then had two scoring droughts of 2:53 and 2:56 to fall behind 29-9. Gonzaga used runs of 8-0 and 15-0 to take command, with a 3-pointer by Aiken all EWU could muster during that stretch.
 
After leading by as many as 34 in the first half, the Bulldogs eventually led 64-33 at intermission. Gonzaga made 52 percent of their shots compared to just 36 percent by the Eagles with nine turnovers leading to 16 Gonzaga points.
 
Eastern opened the second half with a 9-3 run, then used runs of 6-0 and 7-0 to cut the lead to 21 at the 11:24 mark.­­
 
"It didn't go the way we thought it would," Legans said of the opening 20 minutes. "The first half we didn't come out ready – we were excited but we were a little nervous and played a little tight. We had some uncharacteristic turnovers and some plays where we didn't make smart moves."
 
 
Records . . .
 
* Eastern is now 7-4 on the season, its best non-conference record since beginning the 2015-16 season with an 8-2 mark and going 9-4 in the preseason. A year ago during an injury-plagued season, the Eagles began the year 1-9. The Eagles are now 2-3 on the road and 5-0 at home, having registered one of its biggest victories in school history, an 87-82 home win on Nov. 26 over mid-major power Belmont in the final game for both schools in the Gotham Classic. The Eagles play their Big Sky Conference home opener Jan. 4 versus Portland State.
 
* Gonzaga is now 13-1 with a five-game winning streak, and three days earlier registered a 94-81 victory against North Carolina on Wednesday (Dec. 18). After an 84-80 road win at Arizona on Dec. 14, the Bulldogs moved up to second in both the Associated Press and Coaches polls announced on Dec. 16.
 
 
What's Next . . .
 
* After a break for Christmas, Eastern opens league play on the road at Weber State (Dec. 28) and Idaho State (Dec. 30). Eastern takes on a Wildcats team currently 4-6 on the season, with a game at BYU on Saturday evening (Dec. 21) prior to hosting EWU. Idaho State is 3-5 under first-year head coach Ryan Looney, and plays University of the Pacific on Saturday evening (Dec. 21) to wrap-up non-conference play. The Bengals will host Idaho on Dec. 28 before playing the Eagles.
 
 
Top Performers . . .
 
* Twelve of the 13 Eastern players who saw action scored in the game. Besides the 16 points off the bench by Kidd, Jack Perry and Tyler Robertson each scored five for the Eagles. True freshmen Jacob Groves and Abdullahi Mohamed each scored three points, as well as Michael Meadows. Starter Mason Peatling had eight points and seven rebounds for the Eagles.
 
 
More Notes . . .
 
* Eastern has lost the last 25 meetings against Gonzaga, with the last Eastern win in the series coming on Jan. 8, 1990, in Spokane by a 70-55 score. Eastern is 5-35 versus Gonzaga since Eastern moved to NCAA Division I in the 1983-84 season, including a 2-18 record at Gonzaga, 2-12 mark in Cheney and 1-5 record on neutral courts. The two teams paired off in the Inland Empire Classic at the old Spokane Coliseum in November of 1986 and 1987. The Bulldogs lead the all-time series 82-52.
 
* Since EWU moved to NCAA Division I, Eastern is 23-65 versus current members of the Big West Conference. Loyola Marymount is the only school from that league Eastern has never played. All-time, Eastern is 75-115 versus the WCC.
 
* No. 2 Gonzaga was the highest-ranked opponent for EWU in school history. After an 84-80 road win at Arizona on Dec. 14, the Bulldogs moved up to second in both the Associated Press and Coaches polls announced on Dec. 16. Eastern, which is 1-27 all-time versus nationally-ranked opponents, faced No. 3 Kansas in 2007 and No. 3 Oklahoma State in 2004 (NCAA Tournament), losing those games 85-47 and 75-56, respectively.
 
* Prior to the Gonzaga game, Eastern was coming off an overwhelming 97-56 victory over Omaha in which EWU led by as many as 43. The Eagles were a perfect 3-0 during its homestand, in which the Eagles averaged 113.7 points and out-scored opponents by an average of 38.0 points per game (98-82 over North Dakota, 146-89 over Multnomah and 97-56 over Omaha).
 
* Gonzaga was the second ranked team Eastern has played in five-game stretch, having fallen to No. 22/23 Washington 90-80 on Dec. 4 in Seattle. Washington dropped out of the AP poll and was ranked 25th by the coaches the week after falling 83-76 to Gonzaga on Dec. 8. In the Dec. 16 poll, Washington was 22nd in both. Eastern is now 1-28 all-time versus ranked foes.
 
* Gonzaga is virtually unbeatable at home, having now won 214 of 229 games at "The Kennel." The Bulldogs were 33-4 and a perfect 16-0 in the West Coast Conference a year ago when they advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the 21st-straight season.
 
* With at least 80 points in its previous six games – and at least 90 in four of those -- Eastern entered the GU game averaging 90.7 points per game to lead NCAA Division I in scoring and rank second in assists (19.9 per game) through games of Dec. 18. The Eagles were also averaging 10.7 made 3-point field goals per game to rank seventh nationally and second in the Big Sky (Northern Colorado averages 11.3 to rank second in the nation), and were seventh in assist-to-turnover ratio (+1.51 per game). The team's average scoring margin of +18.9 per game was seventh, and EWU was also 15th in rebounds (42.1), 14th in defensive rebounds (30.3), 33rd in field goal percentage (.483), 35th in turnover margin (+3.8) and 33rd in steals (9.1).
 
* Individually, sophomore Kim Aiken Jr. entered the GU game second in NCAA Division I in defensive rebounds per game (9.9) and fourth in rebounding overall (11.8). He leads the Big Sky in both categories, and was also sixth in the nation with seven double-doubles. Junior Jacob Davison was 68th nationally and third in the Big Sky in scoring (18.1), and was second in the league and 65th in the nation in steals (2.0). True freshman Ellis Magnuson was 29th in the nation in assists (5.9 to lead the Big Sky) and 32nd in assist-to-turnover ratio (+2.57 per game to rank first in the league). Davison, Aiken and Mason Peatling all entered the game ranked in the top 10 in the Big Sky in scoring, with Aiken averaging 16.1 (seventh) and Peatling at 15.7 (10th).
 
* Gonzaga countered with the nation's fourth-best scoring offense (86.4), and was also ranked sixth in scoring margin (19.0), sixth in assist-to-turnover ratio (+1.53) 20th in rebounding margin (+8.4), ninth in field goal percentage (.504) and 13th in assists (17.3). Guard Joel Ayayi was seventh in NCAA Division I in assist-to-turnover margin (+3.44). Filip Petrusev was seventh nationally in free throws attempted (80) and 26th in free throws made (55), as well as ranking 88th in blocked shots (1.54) and 46th in double-doubles with four. Corey Kispert was 39th in 3-point field goal accuracy (.436)
 
 
More Comments from Head Coach Shantay Legans . . .
 
On Gonzaga: "I have to give 100 percent credit to Mark Few and his staff. They had their team ready to play – they weren't lackadaisical, they made shots, they defended and they were prepared. They did a great job and it was fun playing against them. I hope we can do it again."
 
On First Half: "In the first half they had 11 offensive rebounds, and when that happens it's going to be a long night – and it was. We got beat by 15 on the glass. When you are playing against a huge team, you have to play really good to beat a team like that. We didn't play great in the first half and played solid in the second half -- I wouldn't say great. That first half put us in a big hole, and it was tough to fight out of it."
 
On Second Half: "Our players played loose, smart and tough in the second half. We wished could have had that in the first 20 minutes and see where the game could have gone. You always try to get into their legs a little bit and try to get them to lose a little of their confidence. But that is a good basketball club – the best team we've played all season."
 
On Playing at GU: "It was fun coming out here and playing in this environment, and there wasn't an empty seat in the house. It worked out that they are really, really good."
 
On Health: "You want to get out of preseason unscathed. We did that for the most part, and our players were smart in their recovery from games. We kept players healthy, and our athletic trainer (Hailey Haukeli) did a great job of getting them through sickness and some bumps and bruises. We have to give her 100 percent of the credit for keeping them going."
 
On Preseason: "All of our losses came away from our house, and came against some really, really good teams. We can look back on that and tell our team that they are pretty good."