Sometimes you just have to scrape off the frost.
 
Cold stretches helped dig double-digit deficits in each half for the Eastern Washington University men's basketball team, but they rallied late to knot the score three times before falling to preseason Big Sky Conference favorite Montana 75-74 Saturday (Feb. 9) at Dahlberg Arena in Missoula, Mont.
 
"We played spectacular at the end and we were a shot away from winning that ballgame," said Eastern head coach Shantay Legans.
 
Sophomore Jacob Davison led the Eagles with 23 points for his sixth 20-point performance in his last seven games, but he missed a potential game-winning shot in the final seconds. Eastern was trying to take its first lead since the opening three minutes of the contest, as Montana led for 36:03 out of 40 minutes.
 
Davison's miss ended a stretch in which EWU made six-straight shots, helping the Eagles finish at 46.4 percent for the game compared to 47.2 percent for the Grizzlies. Eastern made 59 percent of its shots in the second half, but it was the first time in nine games this season in which EWU made 45 percent or better and lost.
 
"We had the best player on the floor with the ball in his hands," said Legans. "He's averaging about 25 points over the last seven games, and we just let Jacob try to make a play. It was a shot I've seen him make a thousand times. He makes it all the time and I had a lot of confidence in that in a one-point game. I thought we were playing great and we were clicking offensively at that time. We felt that putting the ball in Jacob's hands was the best decision to win that game."
 
Returning to Dahlberg Arena where EWU had won five of its last six games, Jesse Hunt had a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds, and Mason Peatling added 16 and seven boards before fouling out. The loss closed a stretch of four games in eight days for the Eagles, who return home for games at Reese Court on Feb. 16 and Feb. 18.
 
The Eagles had stretches of eight minutes in the first half and four minutes in the second half without a field goal to fall behind by a dozen in the first half and 13 in the second half. The Eagles used a 12-2 run late in the game to knot the score at 68, with Peatling contributing six of EWU's points and three other Eagles scoring. The Eagles tied it at 70 with 2:03 left, 72 with 1:25 remaining and 74 at the :53 mark, and Michael Oguine scored the winning points with a free throw with 29 seconds to play.
 
The Grizzlies – the defending regular season and tournament champions and the preseason favorite to win again this year – got a measure of revenge after falling to EWU 78-71 in Cheney on Jan. 10. Montana has won all seven games since then to rise to 10-2 and to the top of the league standings.
 
The teams didn't face each other in Missoula last year, but Montana won the Big Sky Tournament title with an 82-65 win over the Eagles in Reno, Nevada. Prior to that, Eastern had won five of the last six games it played at Dahlberg Arena – including three wins there in the 2015 Big Sky Conference Tournament to advance to the NCAA Tournament.
 
Eastern missed eight-straight shots and went six minutes without a basket in the first half, and that helped Montana open a 12-point lead late in the first half. Baskets by Davison and Ty Gibson helped cut into the lead, but Eastern was out-shot 45 percent to 33 percent and ended up trailing 38-31 at halftime.
 
A 6-0 run by the Eagles in the second half on baskets by Hunt, Davison and Peatling helped cut Montana's lead to five on a pair of occasions, but EWU had a nearly four minute stretch in which it couldn't make a field goal, and had three turnovers in that stretch to boot. That surge gave UM a 59-46 lead with 11:05 to play.
 
Eastern was coming off a 74-66 loss at Montana State on Thursday (Feb. 7), while the Grizzlies beat Idaho by 41 points, 100-59.
 
 

Records . . .
 
* The Eagles are 8-15 overall, and 6-6 in Big Sky Conference play. Eastern beat pre-season favorite Montana 78-71 on Jan. 10 and Montana State 85-81 on Jan. 19 in Cheney. In those consecutive games the Eagles had season-best shooting percentages, including what is still a high-water mark for EWU of 57.9 percent versus the Bobcats. The Eagles are now 7-3 at home this season and 1-12 on the road, with the lone victory away from home coming at Sacramento State 94-92 in overtime on Jan. 26. Staying at the top of the league standings is important because the top five teams in the league gain a first-round bye in the Big Sky Conference Tournament March 13-16 in Boise, Idaho.
 
* Now 10-2 in the Big Sky and 17-6 overall, Montana exited Saturday in sole possession of first in the league standings. Northern Colorado (10-3) is right behind the Grizzlies, followed by Weber State (9-4), MSU (8-5), Southern Utah (7-6) and EWU (6-6). The Grizzlies entered the EWU game with four players averaging in double figures, led by senior guard Ahmaad Rorie with averages of 15.7 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.6 assists. He was held to four by EWU, but Sayeed Pridgett scored a team-high 19 and had nine rebounds. Pridgett, a 6-5 guard who led UM with 21 points versus the Vandals in a game in which UM led 59-25 at halftime, entered with averages 12.6 points, 4.5 rebounds and 1.9 assists.
 
 
What's Next . . .
 
* Eastern returns home for a pair of games, including Saturday (Feb. 16) versus Northern Colorado in a game that starts at 2:05 p.m. Pacific time. The Eagles then face Idaho the following Monday (Feb. 18) in a President's Day doubleheader with the Eagle and Vandal women's teams. The women begin at 2:05 p.m., with the men's game starting at approximately 4:15 p.m. or 30 minutes prior to the conclusion of the women's contest.
 

Top Performers . . .
 
* Sophomore Jacob Davison sank 9-of-17 shots from the field, including 3-of-4 3-point attempts, and finished with 23 points and four assists. He scored 24 points against MSU on Thursday, and before that had a 41-point effort against Northern Arizona to rank as the seventh-most in school history and earn Big Sky Conference Player of the Week honors. He's scored at least 20 points in five of his last six games, and seven total this season (eight in his career). He's had 13 performances in double-digits (23 in his career).
 
* Junior Mason Peatling had 16 points, seven rebounds and a pair of assists before fouling out with 1:41 left in the game. An honorable mention All-Big Sky selection a year ago, he now has 24 career games scoring in double figures, with eight rebounding in double figures and six double-doubles (one this season).
 
* Senior Jesse Hunt sank 5-of-7 shots from the field to finish with 14 points, 12 rebounds and a pair of assists. He now has 24 career double-figure scoring performances in his career to go along with 13 performances with 10 or more rebounds. He has eight double-doubles on the season and nine in his career. 
 
* Senior Ty Gibson came off the bench to sink a trio of 3-pointers in six attempts to finish with nine points.
 
* Junior guard Tyler Kidd finished with only five points on 5-of-5 shooting from the free throw line, but he had five assists to lead the Eagles. He has scored in double figures nine times, all coming in EWU's last 13 games.
 
 

Key Stats . . .

* Eastern made 46.4 percent of its shots from the field, including 9-of-20 from the 3-point stripe. Eastern is now 8-1 this season when it makes at least 45 percent of its shots from the field (1-0 at 50 percent or better) and 0-14 when it doesn't. Montana had a 33-31 rebounding edge, and had two more turnovers than the Eagles. Eastern has out-rebounded five of its last seven opponents after having advantages in just two of its first 16 games.
 
* Earlier this season Eastern hosted Montana and Montana State in back-to-back games -- but those came nine days apart. Eastern is 7-3 at home this season with a five-game winning streak at Reese Court, including impressive victories over the Grizzlies (78-71 on Jan. 10) and Bobcats (85-81 on Jan. 19). In those consecutive games the Eagles had season-best shooting percentages, including what is still a high-water mark for EWU of 57.9 percent versus the Bobcats.
 
  
Notables . . .

* Eastern is 23-52 against the Grizzlies since becoming a member of NCAA Division I in 1983-84, including a 10-28 record in Missoula, 13-21 in Cheney and 0-3 on neutral courts. Montana leads the overall series 69-44. The Eagles triumphed the previous two times they played the Griz in Cheney, and have still won three of the last five meetings in Missoula. Until winning 75-69 on Feb. 4, 2015, the Eagles had lost their last 12 meetings in Missoula, dating back to a 71-52 Eagle win on Feb. 7, 2004. The Eagles would also beat the Grizzlies on their home floor in the 2015 Big Sky Conference Championship game, giving the Eagles a berth in the NCAA Tournament. Including EWU's three-game sweep there to capture the 2015 Big Sky Conference Tournament title, EWU has won five of its last seven games at Dahlberg Arena in Missoula (including three of four versus UM). However, Eastern has lost 24 of the last 32 meetings against the Griz. EWU is 1-5 versus the Griz in the Big Sky Tournament. Besides losing 82-65 in the 2018 title game and beating UM in 2015, EWU also lost 74-66 in the 2012 semifinals in Missoula; 73-71 in overtime in the 2006 semifinals in Flagstaff, Ariz.; 58-48 in the 2005 quarterfinals and 70-66 in the 2002 championship in Bozeman.
 
* Senior guard Cody Benzel remains fourth in school history with 184 3-pointers in his career.  Benzel is tied with Marc Axton on EWU's all-time leaders list (184 from 2002-05). Senior teammate Ty Gibson is 11th with 137. Both of them have played in more than 100 games for the Eagles, with current totals of 124 (fourth in school history) and 119 (eighth) games of experience, respectively. Jesse Hunt is right behind with 106 games played.
 
* Eastern is now 7-3 at home at Reese Court, and is 53-9 overall there in the last four-plus seasons (85 percent). In the previous four seasons, EWU has gone 46-6 at Reese Court, including an 11-1 mark last season and 15-1 record in 2016-17.
 
 
More Comments from Head Coach Shantay Legans . . .

On Having a Chance to Win at the End:  "Having the ball in our hands with a chance to win is all you can ask for, especially against a team like Montana. They are a tough team – they spread the floor and have their big guys making some shots. They were prepared and ready to go, and we played the first-place team on the road who was picked to win again. We came back and had the ball in the hands of our best player. He got to the paint and missed on a favorable no-call for them. That's what you get on the road and you have to be prepared for those games."
 
On Late Scoring Run: "Our assistant coaches do a tremendous job of making adjustments throughout the game. That was on the fly, and we felt like we could attack them at a particular spot. They were doing a great job with ball screen defense, and there were a couple of plays where we got going downhill with that. They did a good job of taking away what we wanted to do early, but again, we adjusted and got some great shots for our guys."
 
On Scoreless Scoring Stretches: "We couldn't get it under seven for a long time. We finally cut it to five and then went on our little run. We have to be smart during stretches when we are not scoring. At one point they were holding us to around 25 percent. It was a tough first half for us, so we have to come out and play better in the first half next time."