When defense, rebounding and turnovers were the best things going for the Eagles, Ellis Magnuson provided the offensive spark.
 
The true freshman sparked the Eagle offense with a trio of 3-pointers in the second half and the Eastern Washington University men's basketball team went on to a 69-51 victory at Southern Utah on Thursday (Feb. 27) in a Big Sky Conference game in Cedar City, Utah.
 
The victory, coupled with a Montana loss at Northern Arizona and a Northern Colorado home win, means there is now a three-way tie for first in the league race at 13-4. Eastern won for the 11th time in its last 13 games and hit the 20-victory mark for just the fifth time in EWU's 37-year history as a member of NCAA Division I.
 
At least one of the three teams will still be in first place when the smoke clears this Saturday (Feb. 29) when the Eagles and Bears tangle in Greeley, Colo.
 
"All you can hope for is to have a chance to win the championship with three games left in the season," said Eastern head coach Shantay Legans. "You accomplish a little bit, but you want to accomplish everything. We want to go in there and play our best basketball, put our best foot forward and win another game."
 
Magnuson finished with four treys in the game and had a key driving layin with 2:35 to play to finish with his best scoring game in over a month with 14 points. It was his only double figure scoring game in the last 12 games since finishing with 16 at Idaho on Jan. 16.
 
"Sometimes you need that, and sometimes you just need to let guys play," said Legans. "We've been on him and he's a freshman – he's going to go through peaks and valleys and ups and downs. You have to make sure you're confident in him – he's our starting point guard and he's our guy."
 
Senior Mason Peatling paced EWU with 17 points and nine rebounds, and Jacob Davison scored 14 with a career-high nine boards. Sophomore Kim Aiken Jr. was the fourth Eagle in double figures with 12 points and had seven boards.
 
Defense and big advantages in rebounds and turnovers helped Eastern overcome a 33 percent shooting night, including just 8-of-37 from the 3-point stripe for 22 percent. Davison made just 3-of-20 shots and Aiken was 5-of-16.
 
But Eastern out-rebounded Southern Utah – the Big Sky's top rebounding team statistically -- 40-35 to move to 13-0 this season when EWU has a rebounding advantage. The Eagles held the Thunderbirds to 33 percent shooting and forced 14 turnovers while having just six themselves.
 
Eastern has already equaled the school's fifth-highest win total in 37 seasons as a member of Division I, with the only seasons better than 18 wins coming in 2014-15 (26), 2016-17 (22) and 2017-18 (20) and 1985-86 (20). Eastern has also equaled the second-most wins in 33 seasons in the Big Sky, with the record set in 2014-15 with 14 victories.
 
Eastern used an early 5-0 run to take a lead it held the rest of the half, and eventually went up 19-10 with 9:32 left on a 3-pointer by Casson Rouse. But EWU would miss its next eight shots and not score again until the 5:04 mark – a total of 4:28 without a basket.
 
The Eagles would go on and lead at halftime 26-18, but it wasn't pretty as both teams made less than 30 percent of their shots from the field. Eastern had its second-best defensive effort in a half this season by allowing just 18 points – fourth-best overall. But EWU also had its third-lowest scoring half of the year.
 
The Eagles were at 25 percent shooting in the second half and nursing a 38-34 lead when the Eagles finally got untracked. Magnuson hit his third 3-pointer of the half, then Aiken made a basket before Jack Perry completed an 8-2 run with a 3-pointer to put EWU up 46-36 at the 11:11 mark.
 
The Eagles led by as many as 13 and no less than nine the rest of the way. Eastern clinched the win by making its last eight free throws in the final 1:11, including six by Perry, who chipped in nine points in the win.
 
 
Records . . .
 
* Eastern is now 20-8 overall and 13-4 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. Through games on Thursday, including a 57-56 loss by Montana at Northern Arizona, Eastern is in the Big Sky lead with a 13-4 record, joining Northern Colorado (13-4) in a three-way tie for the top spot. That trio is followed by Northern Arizona (10-8), Portland State (9-8), Montana State (8-9), Sacramento State (8-10). Weber State (7-9) and Southern Utah (7-10). Idaho (3-14) and Idaho State (3-14) round out the current standings.
 
* The Eagles have already wrapped up a first-round bye and will finish no lower than third in the league standings. But seeding for the Big Sky Conference Tournament March 11-14 in Boise, Idaho, is still an important consideration for the Eagles and their remaining opponents. 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.
 
* Eastern has won 11 of its last 13 games in the league. The Eagles are 9-6 on the road and 11-2 at home this season, and will return to Reese Court to close the regular season on March 5 versus Idaho State and March 7 against Weber State. The Eagles have lost twice to league-leading Montana, plus once each to the two bottom teams in the league – Idaho and Idaho State.
 
* Southern Utah is now 14-14 overall and 7-10 in the league, and lost to EWU 81-78 in overtime on Jan. 25 at Reese Court in Cheney, Wash. Southern Utah is led by 6-foot-7 senior guard/forward Cameron Oluyitan, who entered Thursday averaging 13.2 points, 4.4 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.4 steals per game. Three other players entering averaging at least 9.2 points, including John Knight III (12.9) and Dwayne Morgan (9.6). Knight chips in 2.9 assists per game.
 
* Entering Thursday, Southern Utah was 28th in NCAA Division I in field goal percentage defense (.395 percent), 36th in rebounding margin (+5.4 per game) and 53rd in blocked shots (4.3 per game) to lead the Big Sky in all three categories. They were also 42nd in the nation and second in the league in in 3-point field goal percentage defense (.300).
 
 
What's Next . . .
 
* Trying to stay in first place in the league standings, Eastern plays its final Big Sky Conference road game of the season when it takes on Northern Colorado Saturday (Feb. 29) in a rematch of an overtime contest in late January in Cheney. Tipoff Saturday in Greeley, Colo., is 6 p.m. Pacific time.
 
* Eastern defeated UNC 89-84 in overtime on Jan. 27 at Reese Court. Northern Colorado is coming off an easy 93-49 home victory over Idaho, and matches EWU's records of 20-8 overall and 13-4 in the Big Sky.
 
* Northern Colorado features the guard tandem of Jonah Radebaugh and Bodie Hume, who average more than 30 points per game between them. Entering its game versus Idaho, Radebaugh has averages of 16.1 points, 6.4 rebounds, 6.4 assists and 1.4 steals per game, and the 6-foot-6 Hume is averaging 14.3 points, 4.8 boards, 1.3 assists, 1.0 blocked shots and 0.9 steals and per outing. A third guard, Trent Harris, is averaging 10.9 points.
 
* The Bears are efficient on offense and stingy on defense. Entering the Idaho game, the Bears had made 10.2 3-pointers per game to rank fifth nationally and lead the league, and their 10.3 turnovers per outing were the fewest in the Big Sky and rank sixth in the nation. Northern Colorado also leads the league in ranking 12th in the nation in 3-point field goal percentage offense (.377) and seventh nationally in three-point field goal percentage defense (.286). As a result, the Bears had a league-best +11.0 scoring margin to rank 22nd nationally, and were 30th nationally and second in the league in scoring defense (63.1). Radebaugh led the Big Sky and is 14th in the nation in assists (6.4) and Harris led the league in 3-pointers per game (3.1 to rank 17th in the nation) and 3-point field goal percentage (.388, 36th).
 
 
More Notes . . .
 
* The Eagles are 15-6 all-time against Southern Utah (8-1 in Cheney, 5-5 in Cedar City, 2-0 on a neutral court), including a 77-61 win in the semifinals of the 2019 Big Sky Conference Tournament in Boise, Idaho. A year earlier, EWU recorded an 82-70 victory over the Thunderbirds on March 9, 2018, in the quarterfinals of the league tourney in Reno, Nevada. Eastern had lost the last two meetings in Cedar City until the win in 2020, but the Eagles have triumphed in the last eight home meetings since losing the first game in Cheney in the series by a 70-68 score on Dec. 21, 1993. The Thunderbirds joined the Big Sky in the 2012-13 season and EWU is 14-3 versus them since then with an eight-game winning streak from Feb. 16, 2013, to Jan. 20, 2018.
 
* 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 Win Over Talented SUU Team: "Southern Utah is a very talented ballclub. They put their best players on the court and our team came out and did their job. We handled their pressure and kept them off the offensive glass. We played smart basketball."
 
On Victory Despite 33 Percent Shooting: "You can't tell me Kim will be 5-of-16 and Jacob will be 3-of-20 and we will win, but we did that tonight. That's a huge accomplishment, especially doing it on the road at a place we haven't won the last two years. It was a great win – our team played confident and they played smart."
 
On Magnuson and Other Young Players: "He's a great player and he's going to do great things for us. He and some other players have bright futures for us. They came out and played hard. They have confidence in Ellis to make shots, and he comes into the game and works hard all the time. He keeps working and we keep telling him to shoot the ball. He's a great shooter."
 
On Jacob Davison and Rebounding: "We've been challenging him to do that, and tonight he had four offensive rebounds. That's how he should play, and he did great. That's all you can ask for from your captains and best players. They did well."