The Eagles were clutch enough.
 
A trio of late 3-pointers, plus two free throws with 18 seconds to play, helped the Eastern Washington University men's basketball team begin Big Sky Conference play with a 79-77 victory at Weber State on Saturday (Dec. 28) at the Dee Events Center in Ogden, Utah.
 
Eastern led by as many as 16 points in the second half, then rode sophomore Kim Aiken Jr. down the stretch to enter league play with a victory after registering the second-best preseason in EWU's 37-year history in NCAA Division I. Aiken's two free throws with 18 seconds to play proved to be the winning points after the dust cleared.
 
Three Eagles scored in double figures for the Eagles, including a key performance of 12 points, seven assists, six rebounds and a pair of steals by true freshman Ellis Magnuson in his Big Sky Conference debut. Aiken finished with 22 points and seven rebounds, and senior Mason Peatling scored 12 with eight boards. True freshman Tyler Robertson came off the bench to hit a trio of 3-pointers and finished with a career-high nine points.
 
 "We have some players who have played a lot of games, so we have great leaders out there," said Eastern head coach Shantay Legans. "They've been in these moments and we rely on those guys. Kim had a late turnover, but he went and made two free throws to win the game basically. That's huge for us and what we've been pushing towards, and we're excited for him. But it has been tough here."
 
Eastern won for the third-straight time in Ogden, and have triumphed in four of the last five meetings at the Dee Events Center. The Eagles had won just four previous games in Ogden prior to this five-year stretch.
 
Eastern will now go for its second-straight road sweep over Weber State and Idaho State when the Eagles play the Bengals in Pocatello on Monday (Dec. 30). A year ago, Eastern managed to end the season with a road sweep over the Wildcats (80-77) and Bengals (91-62), and, oddly enough, EWU opened the 2019-20 on the road against those same two teams.
 
"We went 1-0 today and we have to go 1-0 on Monday," said Legans. "(Weber State's) Randy Rahe is a great coach – he's been coach of the year in this league and taken teams to multiple NCAA Tournaments. They'll be right there at the end."
 
Eastern had a slow post-Christmas start and trailed early 9-0, but used its own 9-0 run to take a 17-14 lead. Eastern continued to add to the lead, and led 39-28 late in the half on a 3-pointer by Robertson. Eastern led 41-32 at intermission and led for the final 9:29 of the first half, and eventually the last 29:29 of the game.
 
The Eagles then scored the first seven points of the second half and went up 48-32 on a steal and basket by Magnuson. But Weber State wasn't done, and used an 8-0 run to pull within four with 9:28 to play.
 
But back-to-back baskets by Peatling stopped the bleeding, then Aiken hit clutch 3-pointers at the 5:38 and 4:17 marks to put EWU up 74-66. Yet another 3-pointer by Casson Rouse at the 3:18 mark upped EWU's lead to 77-66.
 
Weber State cut the lead to two before Aiken's free throws gave EWU a 79-75 lead. But he would miss the front end of two bonus free throw opportunities as Weber State cut the lead to two, but EWU was able to gain possession after his second miss with 1.6 ticks left and run out the clock.
 
The Eagles 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.
 
 
Records . . .
 
* Eastern is now 8-4 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. While the Eagles are a perfect 5-0 at home thus far, Eastern is 3-4 on the road, 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 were a perfect 3-0 during a homestand from Dec. Dec. 8 to Dec. 17, but won't play again at Reese Court in Cheney, Wash., until Jan. 4. The Eagles averaged 113.7 points and out-scored opponents by an average of 38.0 points per game during the three-game winning streak (98-82 over North Dakota, 146-89 over Multnomah and 97-56 over Omaha).
 
* While Eastern finished 7-4 during its pre-conference schedule, Weber State was just 4-7 and Idaho State was even lower at 3-7. Weber State is now 4-8 overall, including 3-2 at home thus far while going 1-6 away from Ogden, Utah. Most recently, Weber State lost at BYU 91-61 and its last win over a NCAA Division I opponent was 72-67 at Utah Valley on Dec. 4.
 
 
What's Next . . .
 
* Eastern continues its first Big Sky road trip of the season by playing on Monday (Dec. 30) at Idaho State at 6:05 p.m. Pacific time. The Bengals, who play Idaho before hosting the Eagles, are 3-6 under first-year head coach Ryan Looney. The Bengals have dropped their last three, and haven't won since beating West Coast Baptist 102-43 on Nov. 27. Their only NCAA Division I victory was on Nov. 7 when they won on the road at Air Force 89-79.  Tarik Cool leads three Idaho State players averaging in double figures at 14.4 per game, followed by Chier Maker at 12:6 and Jared Stutzman at 11.7. Cool had 41 in the victory versus Air Force. The Eagles play their Big Sky Conference home opener Jan. 4 versus Portland State.
 
 
Top Performers . . .
 
* Eastern was out-shot 50 percent to 44 percent in the game, but Eastern had a 10-5 advantage in 3-pointers made and 13-10 advantage in free throws. Junior Jacob Davison, EWU's leading scorer with an 18-0 average, fouled out after playing just 16 minutes. He had eight points and a pair of assists, with Tanner Groves coming off the bench to score six points and grab three rebounds. Rouse also had five points off the bench, and Jack Perry made his first start of the season and scored five with three assists and a pair of steals in 38 minutes of action. Peatling also had three assists and a blocked shot.
 
 
 
More Notes . . .
 
* The Eagles have won six of their last 10 games against an opponent EWU was 20-45 against prior to that. Eastern is 26-49 all-time against Weber State, including an 8-30 road record, 16-18 mark at home and 2-1 on neutral courts (3-3 record in the Big Sky Conference Tournament). Eastern split with the Wildcats in 2018-19, losing at home early in the year (84-72) and then winning on the road two months later (80-77). The Eagles won the lone meeting versus the Wildcats in the 2017-18 season, winning 75-70 in Ogden to snap WSU's nine-game winning streak. The year before, Eastern was 1-2 versus Weber State, falling 70-67 in Ogden, Utah, on Jan. 14, 2017, and winning 82-72 on Feb. 23, 2017, in Cheney to move into a second-place tie with the Wildcats in the league standings. They met again in the Big Sky Conference Tournament semifinals and Wildcats won the rubber match 80-71.  Eastern has played the Wildcats in the Big Sky Tournament on six occasions, including a 3-1 record in semifinal matchups. Eastern won in the 1990 semis in Boise 83-67, won in the 2002 semis in Bozeman 62-57, lost in the 2003 championship game in Ogden 60-57, won in the 2004 semis in Cheney 72-53 and lost in the 2011 quarterfinals in Ogden 79-70.
* Eastern is 48-29 all-time against ISU, including a 45-28 record since becoming a member of NCAA Division I in the 1983-84 season (16-19 on the road, 28-8 at home, 1-1 at neutral sites). The Eagles have won 16 of the last 18 meetings overall and 14 of the last 15 at Reese Court, and have a current five-game winning streak overall. The last time EWU has lost to the Bengals was on March 3, 2016, by a 75-71 score in Cheney. Last season, Eastern beat the Bengals at home (65-55) and won on the road (91-62). In 2018-19, 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.
 
 
 
More Comments from Head Coach Shantay Legans . . .
 
On Winning: "It's always a battle at Weber State and ends up a terrific game. We had some adversity to overcome with foul trouble. It's always tough here, but at the same time you have to give Weber State credit – they came out with a good game plan. They tried to protect their home court, but we came out with the edge today. We won that game at the end, and maintaining possession after the free throw mishap was huge."
 
On Magnuson: "Ellis is one of the better point guards in college basketball, not just in our league. He's starting to get in the flow and feeling good about everything, and he's a really, really good player. We're lucky to have him and all of the players on our team. Everybody chipped in to win this game."
 
On Perry and Robertson: "Jack did a great job and does everything we ask – he's like another coach on the floor. Tyler is only going to get better, and his defense is getting better each day. We wish we could have got him some more minutes, but he played terrific."
 
On Start: "We missed some easy ones and we took some quick shots. But every time we come back from Christmas it is hard to win this game, especially if we have to travel. This is a hard trip."