The Eagles needed a bounce-back game, but it took a bit of time to do the bouncing.
 
Rallying from a 14-point deficit in the first half with a 40-21 scoring surge to span halftime, the Eastern Washington University men's basketball team went on to a 89-81 victory over Portland State in a Big Sky Conference game Saturday (Feb. 15) at Viking Pavilion in Portland, Ore.
 
Portland State started the game as the aggressor, but once EWU overcame its early turnover troubles the Eagles pulled back and led by as many as 12. At its best, Eastern had a 10-minute stretch in which it went on a 24-8 run and turned a five-point deficit into its biggest lead of the night at 77-65 with 4:40 to play.
 
Eastern made 7-of-8 free throws in the last 36 seconds to close out their 17th victory of the season. Eastern had only six turnovers in the second half after having 16 in the first half, and registered their first win in Portland since 2015 – and just its second victory in the last 12 games at PSU.
 
Eastern dominated the glass 43-24 against Portland State to improve to 10-0 when the Eagle out-rebound its opponent. That came a game after being out-rebounded 46-28 in a 74-71 home loss two nights earlier. The win completed a season sweep for EWU over the Vikings.
 
Five Eagle players played the entire second half for EWU, and those five players all ended up scoring in double figures. Senior Mason Peatling had his seventh double-double in the last nine games with 22 points and 11 rebounds. Junior Jacob Davison scored a game-high 30 points, scoring 27 after intermission.
 
Sophomore Kim Aiken Jr. overcame an 0-of-6 shooting start and scoreless first half to finish with 11 second-half points, and he also had a double-double with 13 boards. Redshirt freshman Casson Rouse scored 10 first-half points on his way to 11 for the game, and junior Jack Perry was the fifth Eagle in double figures with 10.
 
"Those five guys played with the energy and everything we were looking for," said Eastern head coach Shantay Legans. "They were fighting for every ball, and even when a couple of players got into foul trouble we stuck with them. It was more a matter of how the game flowed along and the confidence we were playing with. They got us the lead and didn't give it back, and that was huge. They were ready for that moment and played great."
 
Eastern was facing a dangerous opponent on the glass and in other areas in hopes of slowing down the Eagle offense, which entered the game ranking seventh in NCAA Division I in scoring at 81.2 points per game. The Vikings entered ranked third in NCAA Division I in offensive rebounds per game (14.6), and were 32nd nationally and first in the league in steals (8.2). The Vikings were averaging 77.0 points per game to rank 39th nationally and second in the league behind EWU.
 
Eastern is 9-2 at home this season, but is also an impressive 8-5 on opponent home courts. However, EWU had lost the last three times it had played the Vikings in Portland, including a 13-point loss in 2019 (78-65), a 13-point loss in 2018 (94-81) and a 16-point setback in 2017 (107-91). In fact, Portland State had won 10 of the last 11 meetings in Portland dating back to 2007, with a seven-game winning streak broken in a 92-85 EWU win in 2015.
 
But that all ended Saturday, taking 12 minutes to finally get untracked, and six minutes into the second half to get rolling.
 
Eastern fell victim to Portland State's pressure early, falling behind 10-0 and 16-2 less than three minutes into the game. Portland State took advantage of 16 turnovers in the first half by EWU, which still trailed by 14 with 8:20 to play. But Eastern was able to pull within 45-38 at halftime by out-scoring PSU 15-8 the rest of the half.
 
Peatling had 13 points, five rebounds and a pair of blocked shots in the first half, and Rouse pitched in 10. But early in the second half, it was Davison and Aiken who took over, scoring 18 of EWU's first 20 points of the second half to forge Eastern's first tie of the game with 13:44 left.
 
Two more Eagle baskets – a 3-pointer by Aiken and a layup by junior Jack Perry -- completed a 10-0 run and a 40-21 scoring advantage spanning halftime. That surge gave EWU a 63-58 lead with 11:37 to play.
 
Eastern used another surge to open its biggest lead of the night at 77-65 as Davison and Perry hit back-to-back 3-pointers with the 3:13 to play. Davison then hit a big basket with 1:07 left to stop a 7-0 PSU scoring run, and give EWU a 82-75. Davison his all four of his free throws in the final 28 seconds as EWU made 7-of-8 in the final 36 ticks on the clock to preserve the victory.
 
Now four games into the second half of the league season, seeding for the Big Sky Conference Tournament March 11-14 in Boise, Idaho, becomes an important consideration. The top five teams receive a bye to the quarterfinal round on Thursday, March 12, while the other six play on Wednesday, March 11, and must win four games to win the title and the automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.
 
 
Records . . .
 
* Eastern is now 17-8 overall and 10-4 in the league, having fallen out of first place in the Big Sky Conference standings with a 92-82 loss at Montana on Feb. 6. After games played on Saturday, the Eagles are 1 1/2 games behind the Grizzlies (10-3) and are tied with Northern Colorado (10-4) for third. That trio is followed by Montana State (8-6), Northern Arizona (8-7), Southern Utah (7-7), Portland State (6-8), Weber State (6-9) and Sacramento State (6-9). Eastern had originally moved into first place in the standings when Montana lost its second-straight game, 88-81 to Portland State on Jan. 30.
 
* Portland State is 6-8 in the Big Sky and 12-14 overall, and was coming off an 83-71 upset win at Northern Colorado on Monday (Feb. 10). Eastern beat Portland State 71-69 in the previous meeting in Cheney on Jan. 4. The Vikings are now 7-3 at home and 4-11 on the road this season (1-0 on neutral courts), and entered Saturday's game out-scoring opponents by an average of 12.0 points per game at home, while getting out-scored by an average of nearly five points per game away from the Viking Pavilion.
 
* Holland Woods, a 6-foot-1 junior guard, entered the game leading PSU with averages of 17.3 points, 5.2 assists, 1.9 steals and 2.4 rebounds per game. Senior 6-2 guard Matt Hauser entered averaging 14.1 points, 4.4 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.4 steals. Senior 6-6-6 forward Alonzo Walker averages 10.0 points, 5.5 rebounds and 0.7 blocks, and 6-8 senior center Sal Nuhu chips in 9.8 points, 7.0 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per outing. Hauser finished with 24 against EWU and Woods had 18.
 
 
What's Next . . .
 
* More good news for Eastern is that four of its last six league games are at home at Reese Court, including next Thursday (Feb. 20) when Sacramento State visits. The Eagles also host Northern Arizona (Feb. 22), Idaho State (March 5) and Weber State (March 7). Eastern defeated six of its final seven opponents in the first half of league play, with the lone loss on the road at Idaho State.
 
 
Other Top Performances . . .
 
* Davison scored 30 points on just 12 shots from the field, making nine with a pair of 3-pointers and sinking 10-of-12 free throws. He also had four assists and four rebounds. Peatling had his 10th double-double of the season and 18th in his career, with EWU owning a 16-2 record in those contests. He also finished with three blocked shots and five assists. Aiken overcame his 0-of-6 shooting start to hit his next four and finish 4-of-12 from the field with a trio of 3-pointers. He had his 11th double-double of the season and 15th of his career, with EWU owning a 11-4 record in those games.
 
* The Eagles had their best rebounding effort of the season with a 43-24 advantage, holding PSU to eight offensive rebounds. The plus-19 margin was the best versus a NCAA Division I opponent, besting the +17 EWU had versus Omaha. The previous best versus a Big Sky opponent was +9 two games earlier versus Montana State. Eastern is now 10-0 when it outrebounds its opponent.
 
 
More Notes . . .
 
 * Since Eastern became a member of NCAA Division I in the 1983-84 season, the Eagles are now 26-24 versus Portland State. All of the meetings have come since the 1996-97 school year when PSU joined the Big Sky Conference, and Eastern is 17-8 in Cheney and 8-15 against PSU in Portland (1-1 on neutral courts) since then. The overall series is now knotted at 27 apiece. Eastern is 2-1 against PSU in the Big Sky Tournament, winning 78-72 in the quarterfinals in 2018 in Reno, 81-75 in the 2006 quarterfinals in Cheney and losing 80-74 in the 1999 quarterfinals in Ogden, Utah.
 
* Eastern fell out of first place in the Big Sky Conference standings with a 92-82 loss at Montana on Jan. 6, but improved to 9-3 in the league two days later with a convincing 74-49 home victory over Montana State. Eastern followed that with a 74-71 loss to Idaho on Feb. 13. The Eagles had 17 turnovers, out-shot 50 percent to 38 percent and were dominated in rebounding, 46-28. Eastern trailed 41-28 at halftime, and followed its lowest-scoring half of the season with its eighth-highest scoring half of the year (fourth-best versus NCAA Division I competition) of 48 points.
 
* Montana is the two-time defending Big Sky Conference champion, and EWU has missed out on NCAA Tournament berths by falling to the Grizzlies in both the 2018 (82-65) and 2019 (68-62) championship games of the league tournament. Both EWU and UM are the preseason picks to win the league title in the 2019-20 season – Eastern by the coaches and Montana by the media. With a season sweep over EWU, the Grizzlies have a tiebreaker advantage over the Eagles.
 
 
More Comments from Head Coach Shantay Legans . . .
 
On Overcoming Early Turnover Problems: "Our players did a great job of calming themselves down. We have a very good team, and Portland State came in with a lot of energy. Our players didn't make the right reads early, but we have a group that can calm themselves down and turn it around. It's a player's game. You have to have five players on the court making decisions and the right plays, and fortunately we have some great leaders."
 
On Kim Aiken: "He made some big shots and he got what we called 'activity points.' He did a good job of guarding Boo-Boo Woods and he did a good job on the offensive glass. When he's playing well, Kim gets offensive rebounds and makes things happen. We did a good job of finding him for some really good shots, and he knocked some of them down. He's a confident young man, and our players are confident in him. He's had a little rough patch shooting, but if he rebound like he did tonight that is how we are going to win games. His shooting will come and go, but his rebounds need to always be there."
 
On Peatling: "Mason is doing a great job with this team. He had five assists and blocks, and he was everything for our team. He had 22 points and 11 rebounds, and went 8-of-10 from the free throw line. That's what wins games and changes everything."
 
On Saturday Sweep of PSU: "It was a great Portland sweep. The women beat the defending champs and we won on the road. It was a great day to be an Eagle."