The Eagles certainly got the attention of the Huskies, and it began with a 10-1 start.
 
The Eastern Washington University men's basketball team gave No. 22/23 Washington everything it could handle for 15 minutes Wednesday (Dec. 4), but UW pulled away in the second half for a 90-80 win at Alaska Airlines Arena at Hec Edmundson Pavilion.
 
Sophomore Kim Aiken Jr. paved the way for Eastern with a season-high 20 points, including a 3-pointer with five minutes to play in the first half and knot the score at 33 after a start which saw the Eagles lead 10-1. However, Washington scored 14 of the last 16 points in the first half, and then opened up a 20-point lead in the second half.
 
Junior Jacob Davison chipped in 12 points and senior Tyler Kidd came off the bench to also score 12 for EWU, which returns to Reese Court to face North Dakota on Sunday (Dec. 8).
 
"We're disappointed to lose to UW, but you just have to keep getting better," said Eastern head coach Shantay Legans. "We wanted this for Eagle Nation. It hurts to lose this."
 
Turnovers played a big part in the loss for EWU. Seventeen Eagle turnovers led to 19 Washington points – a season high for a team versus EWU this season – with 12 UW points off nine EWU turnovers in the opening 20 minutes. Eastern also missed 10 of their 22 attempted free throws, including a 3-of-10 performance in the first half. Washington was 29-of-36 at the line.
 
"We competed – I thought it was a winnable game," Legans said. "We appreciate the hospitality of the University of Washington and got to play a great game, but I thought we left some points out there and had too many fouls. We have be smart, and make sure our guys know how important it is to have them stay on the court and not get into foul trouble too early."
 
The Eagles jumped out to a quick 10-1 lead, with Casson Rouse sinking a pair of 3-pointers as EWU sank its first four shots. But a 10-0 Husky run wiped out the lead, and then the rest of the half was a battle. There were four three ties and four lead changes and EWU trailed 47-35 at intermission.
 
Eastern was within 12 with 11:12 remaining in the game when the Huskies provided a dagger with a 13-5 run to open a 20-point advantage at the four-minute mark. But EWU's 43.3 percent shooting overall and 31.3 percent shooting from the 3-point stripe (10-of-32) was too much to overcome.
 
 
Records . . .
 
* Eastern is now 4-3 on the season and had its two-game winning streak snapped. Eastern's 4-2 start was its best since beginning the 2015-16 season with an 8-2 mark. A year ago during an injury-plagued season, the Eagles began the year 1-9. Eastern was coming off 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. Six players scored in double figures and Kim Aiken Jr., had his fourth double-double of the season, with all nine Eagles who played scoring and grabbing at least one rebound.
 
* Washington is 7-1 on the season and was coming off a 75-55 victory over South Dakota two nights earlier. The Huskies opened the season by knocking off 16th-ranked Baylor 67-64, but suffered their first loss of the season on Nov. 16 against Tennessee (75-62). Washington has rebounded for victories over Maine (72-53), Montana (73-56) and San Diego (88-69) since then, and have a Dec. 8 home date versus Gonzaga looming.
 
* Three Huskies entered the game averaging in double figures in scoring, led by 6-foot-9 freshman Isaiah Stewart with averages of 17.1 points, 7.9 rebounds and 2.1 blocked shots. Junior 6-6 guard Nahziah Carter is averaging 14.9 points, 6.7 boards and 2.0 steals, and 6-9 freshman Jaded McDaniels out of Federal Way, Wash., chips in 14.7 points, 5.4 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.3 blocks and 1.4 steals. Six Huskies ended up in double figures versus EWU, with Stewart scoring 12, Carter with 13 and McDaniels with 17. Quade Greed led the way with 20 points and eight assists.
 
 
What's Next . . .
 
* League pride is on the line Sunday (Dec. 8) at Reese Court when Eastern hosts the North Dakota Fighting Hawks at approximately 3:30 p.m. that day when in the second game of a Reese Court doubleheader. The EWU women's team faces Northwest Christian in the first game at 1:05 p.m., and the men's game follows 30 minutes after that.
 
* The game is part of the second round of games in the Big Sky Conference versus Summit League challenge series. The four-year series involving four teams from each league began during the 2018-19 season. Each school will play one home game and road contest against separate schools from the other league during each of the four seasons. Big Sky schools participating are Eastern, Montana State, Montana and Idaho. The Summit is represented by North Dakota State, North Dakota, Omaha and South Dakota State. So far, EWU is 0-2 in the series, losing on the road at North Dakota State (74-67) and at home versus South Dakota State (74-64) a year ago. The Big Sky was 4-4 in the eight games played in the challenge series last season and 0-1 this year thus far, with South Dakota State playing at Montana State (Dec. 5) and North Dakota at Montana (Dec. 6) prior to EWU's game Sunday.
 
* North Dakota is 4-5 on the season heading into Friday's game versus the Grizzlies. The Fighting Hawks fell 97-66 on Nov. 13 at Gonzaga – a team EWU plays on Dec. 21. Otherwise, EWU and UND have no common opponents thus far, with North Dakota's last game a 58-56 loss against Campbell and its last win 80-68 over Georgia Southern. Like EWU, three players average in double figures for the Fighting Hawks, led by averages of 15.3 points, 9.2 rebounds and 1.9 blocked shots per game by 6-foot-9 Filip Rebraca. He is a sophomore from Serbia shooting 62.8 percent from the field, and has had five double-doubles thus far. He had a season-high 24 points with 10 rebounds versus Milwaukee last month. He is joined by Marlon Stewart with a 14.1 average and De'Sean Allen-Eikens at 13.2 per game. Stewart also is averaging 4.2 assists and has made 12-of-36 3-point shots thus far. Stewart scored 20 points in each of the last two games, with a combined 17 rebounds and five assists. Allen-Eikens scored 18 in the win over Georgia Southern.
 
* North Dakota is a former Big Sky Conference member, and EWU is 5-7 all-time against the Fighting Hawks (4-6 as DI member). Eastern is 10-16 all-time versus the Summit League, with all of the meetings coming with EWU as a member of NCAA Division I.
 
 
Top Performers . . .
 
* Aiken scored his 26 points on 9-of-16 shooting from the field and 6-of-12 from the 3-point stripe, as he eclipsed the 24 he had against Southern Utah on Feb. 2, 2019. The rest of the team, however, was 20-of-51 (39.2 percent) overall and 4-of-20 (20.0 percent) from the arc. Davison led the Eagles with eight rebounds and two steals, and also joined Rouse in finishing with four assists.
 
 
More Notes . . .
 
* The Eagles are now 1-16 all-time versus the Huskies with a 12-game losing streak. Eastern hasn't beaten them since Dec. 14, 2002, and is 13-88 all-time versus the Pac-12 (3-46 as a member of DI). Eastern snapped a 21-game losing streak versus the Pac-12 with a 67-61 victory at Stanford on Nov. 14, 2017. A year ago, the Huskies were 27-9 and defeated EWU 83-59 on Nov. 27, 2018.
 
* Two of EWU's next five games are expected to be versus ranked opponents, with Washington ranked 22nd in the Associated Press poll and 23rd in the Coaches Poll (both released on Dec. 2). Gonzaga, EWU's opponent Dec. 21 in Spokane, is currently ranked in the two polls, respectively. Games in the 2019-20 season versus Oregon and Syracuse were Eastern's 27th and 26th games versus ranked opponents, and EWU is now 1-27.
 
 
More Comments from Head Coach Shantay Legans . . .
 
On Turnovers: "That's a killer. We wanted to come in here and have 10 turnovers or less. We just have to make sure we push our players to understand how important possession of the ball is. We had 17 turnovers against a good team with a lot of length, but we threw the ball into their hands at times."
 
On Free Throw Discrepancy: "I think we gave them one of their better offensive games because of the free throws -- 29 made free throws is hard to beat on the road. You have to make free throws."
 
On Shooting: "We got some good looks early, but then we ran down the shot clock at other times, which we didn't want to do and forced up some tough shots."