Like a heavyweight battle, the Vandals and Eagles battled toe-to-toe down the stretch.
 
In a game that featured 10 ties and 10 lead changes – most of them coming in the second half – the Eastern Washington University men's basketball team survived to beat Idaho 78-75 in a Big Sky Conference game on Thursday (Dec. 16) at the Kibbie Dome in Moscow, Idaho.
 
Eastern's Kim Aiken Jr., Ellis Magnuson and Jacob Davison combined for 53 points, but it was a 3-pointer by junior Jack Perry on a pass from Magnuson with 10.4 seconds remaining that finally gave EWU the lead for good. Eastern closed out the scoring with free throws by Aiken Jr. and Davison in the final four seconds, Davison's after a steal that all but clinched the win.
 
"We battled and we didn't give up," said Eastern head coach Shantay Legans. "We lost on the boards by 10 and you can't do that – especially on the road. But we made big plays and made big shots. We made 12 3-pointers and shot the ball pretty well. We got it inside and moved the ball around, and finished with 19 assists. When we played that way we were playing pretty good."
 
Aiken Jr. had 18 points, eight rebounds and a team-leading six assists, and the sophomore scored 12 of his points in the second half. Magnuson, a true freshman from Boise, Idaho, had 11 of his season-high 16 points in the second half. Davison, a junior, scored nine in the first half and eight in the second half to finish with 17 points and three steals.
 
Eastern jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead and led by as many as nine in the first half at 15-6. Eastern shot at an early 58 percent clip, but went cold and let the Vandals go on a run. Idaho eventually led 26-22 before EWU regained a 35-31 advantage at intermission.
 
Davison scored nine points in the first half to lead the Eagles, who had five 3-pointers to one for the Vandals. Eastern had a slight 43 percent to 41 percent shooting edge, but were out-rebounded 21-16.
 
Eastern went on a run in the second half, and a pair of 3-pointers by Magnuson gave EWU its biggest lead of the night at 49-39 with 13:36 to play. But the Eagles went nearly six minutes without a field goal, and a 12-0 Idaho run gave the Vandals a short-lived 51-49 lead.
 
Aiken hit 3-pointers at the 7:43 and 6:08 marks to give EWU a 59-55 lead. But Idaho rallied again and then the two squads traded punches. There were eight ties and six lead changes in the second half alone.
 
Eventually, a 3-pointer by Eastern junior Jack Perry gave EWU a 76-74 lead with 10.4 seconds to play.
 
Two of the Big Sky's top five individual scorers were on display Thursday, including Idaho's Trevon Allen (19.3, second), and Eastern's Jacob Davison (17.40, fourth). Including Eagles Kim Aiken Jr. (15.8, ninth) and Mason Peatling (15.2, 11th), the totals are four of the top 11. In league games only, all four players rank in the top 12 – Allen (20.3, second), Aiken (16.3, ninth), Davison (15.8, 12th) and Peatling (15.8, 12th).
 
Allen finished with 23 points to lead the Vandals against EWU.
 
 
Records . . .
 
* Eastern is now 10-6 on the season and 3-2 in the league, including its best non-conference record (7-4) since beginning the 2015-16 season with an 8-2 mark and going 9-4 in the preseason. While the Eagles are now 6-1 at home thus far, Eastern is 4-5 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.
 
* With Southern Utah, Sacramento State and Idaho State all losing on Thursday night, Eastern helped itself by beating Idaho. Leading the league are Montana at 5-1 and Northern Colorado at 4-1, with Southern Utah and EWU both at 3-2. Montana State, Sacramento State and Idaho State are all 3-3.
 
* Eastern was coming off a disappointing home effort on Jan. 9, falling behind by as many as 18 in the first half and 29 in the second half of a 90-63 loss to Montana. The loss dropped Eastern from a tie for second into a percentage tie for sixth with Montana State (3-3 in league, 9-8 overall) in the Big Sky standings through games of Nov. 11.
 
* Prior to the Montana loss, EWU registered a 71-69 home victory over Portland State on Jan. 4. Eastern beat Weber State 79-77 in its Big Sky opener, then the Eagles dropped a 75-69 decision at Idaho State in which EWU's inconsistent shooting kept them from garnering a lead in the last 27 1/2 minutes.
 
* The Vandal men lost at home to Montana State 71-68 on Jan. 9, and are now 1-4 in the Big Sky Conference and 5-11 overall. Idaho is coached by former Eagle Zac Claus, who lettered for EWU in the 1996-97 and 1997-98 seasons after transferring from Nebraska.
 
 
What's Next . . .
 
* The Eagles have a short turnaround to play at Montana State in Bozeman on Saturday, Jan. 18 at 3:05 p.m. Pacific time. The Bobcats will be well-rested entering the EWU game with no contests on the schedule since falling at home to Portland State 77-76 on Jan. 11 in Bozeman. With a new head coach in Danny Sprinkle, Montana State is led by Harald Frey, who averages 17.35 points per game to rank fifth in the league. Montana State is ranked 21st in NCAA Division I in 3-point field goal percentage defense (.282) to rank second in the Big Sky (Sacramento State leads at .248).
 
* Eastern will return home to Reese Court on Jan. 25 to face Southern Utah, then will host Northern Colorado two days later. Those two schools are also among the upper echelon of the Big Sky, and will provide yet more tests for EWU. Both were 3-1 in the league and 10-5 overall entering action this week.
 
 
Top Performers . . .
 
* Senior Mason Peatling chipped in nine points and four rebounds for the Eagles, but foul trouble limited him to just 24 minutes of action. Perry finished with seven points, four assists and three boards, and redshirt freshman Casson Rouse came off the bench to add two each of steals, assists and rebounds. Sophomore Tanner Groves scored six points and had a team-high eight rebounds. Bot Davison and Aiken Jr. were 6-of-13 from the field, but the biggest difference was Aiken's five 3-pointers made on 11 attempts. Magnuson had three and Davison two as EWU finished with 12 – its most since finishing with 13 against Omaha on Dec. 17.
 
 
More Notes . . .
 
* Since 1996 when Idaho first left the Big Sky Conference, the two schools have now played 27 times, with Eastern winning 16 of them. Idaho leads the all-time series 57-31. Since EWU became a NCAA Division I member in the 1983-84 season, EWU is 19-36 against Idaho (10-15 home, 8-17 away, 1-4 neutral). In the 13 meetings since Idaho re-joined the Big Sky Conference in the 2014-15 season, EWU is 8-5 but the average winning margin in the first 11 was just 5.9 points (total of 65). Included was a Vandal sweep in 2017-18 and an EWU sweep in 2016-17.
 
 
More Comments from Head Coach Shantay Legans . . .
 
On Winning at Idaho: "Road games in this league are tough. It's just how it goes. Like I've been telling people, Idaho is a good team – they are well-coached, they play hard, they have a dynamic guard in Trevon Allen and the pieces around him are really good. So they aren't going to win just one game – they are going to beat some teams."
 
On Contributions: "I'm proud of our team. We went back-and-forth, we got up by 10 and lost the lead, and Mason was battling with four fouls again. We have to figure those things out, but our guys just stepped up. Casson Rouse came in and provided a spark – he was terrific. He only scored five points, but he did some things defensively that really helped us tonight, including two steals. Jacob Groves played big, Tanner Groves played good and Ellis had one of his better games scoring. You can go down the list. We want to make sure we tell our guys how good they played after the performance we had last Thursday against Montana. To win a game on the road is huge, so we got one back."
 
On Jack Perry's Big 3-Pointer: "Jack Perry has made every big shot he's taken here pretty much. I trust Jack with everything. He's one of our stud players and he is literally a coach on the floor. I love him to shoot because he's one of our better shooters. He did things against Idaho that really helped us win."
 
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