A trio of Eagles scored a combined for 60 points, but it was the defense on three Bears that keeps the Eagles on top in the Big Sky Conference.
 
The Eastern Washington University men's basketball team held Northern Colorado to seven 3-pointers and won its eighth Big Sky Conference road game with a 68-64 victory at Northern Colorado Saturday (Feb. 29) in a showdown for first place and a rematch of an overtime contest in late January in Cheney.
 
Eastern held UNC's three leading scorers to 41 points on combined 15-of-46 shooting for 33 percent. Although they made seven 3-pointers, no other Bears sank a trey after Northern Colorado entered the game making 10.3 per game to rank fifth in NCAA Division I and first in the league. The Bears made only 30.4 percent of their 3-pointers (7-of-23), well below their 38.1 percent for the season to rank 15th in the nation and first in the league.
 
True freshman Tyler Robertson came off the bench to provide some of the defense on UNC's Jonah Radebaugh, who needed 24 shots to score 21 points. The game featured six ties and five lead changes, with no team having a lead of more than seven points.
 
Another factor in EWU's win and its 36-27 scoring lead in the second half was a 25-13 rebounding advantage after intermission. Eastern allowed just three offensive rebounds and one second-chance point in the second half after allowing 12 offensive boards and 10 second-chance points in the first 20 minutes.
 
"They were amped up and ready to go – it was senior night for them," said Eastern head coach Shantay Legans. "There were a couple of momentum swings and we withstood some big plays by them and a lot of foul trouble. But our guys stayed with it and they fought and battled. Giving up only one second-chance point in the second half was huge. We played great defense and understood exactly what we wanted to do in the second half."
 
Junior Jacob Davison led the way for Eastern with 24 points, hitting 10-of-22 shots from the field. It was his 12th 20-point performance of the season and 21st of his career. Senior Mason Peatling had 20 points on 9-of-18 shooting with 11 rebounds, three assists and three blocks, and now has had 13 double-doubles on the season with 10 in his last 13 games.
 
True freshman Ellis Magnuson equaled his career high with 16 points – his second-straight double-figure game after going 11-straight games without one. He made 7-of-12 shots from the field to equal the 16 points he scored at Idaho on Jan. 16. Eastern out-shot the Bears 48 percent to 39 percent.
 
Eastern is gunning for its fourth Big Sky regular season title in school history (2000, 2004, 2015), and has won two Big Sky Tournament titles (2004 and 2015) to advance to the NCAA Tournament. The Eagles also have national postseason appearances in the NIT (2003) and the College Basketball Invitational (2016, 2017, 2018).
 
With 21 victories, Eastern has already achieved the school's third-highest win total in 37 seasons as a member of Division I, with the only seasons better than 20 wins coming in 2014-15 (26) and 2016-17 (22). At 14-4 in the league, Eastern has also equaled the most wins in 33 seasons in the Big Sky, sharing the record set in 2014-15.
 
Eastern has won 12 of its last 14 games in the league. The Eagles are 10-6 on the road and 11-2 at home this season, including an 8-2 road mark in league games. Eastern 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.
 
Eastern had an early 13-6 lead as the Bears missed on their first five 3-point attempts. But they hit their next two as part of a 16-3 run that opened a 22-16 advantage for UNC. The Bears led by as many as seven in the first half and led at intermission 37-32.
 
Although the Eagles had a 45 percent to 42 percent shooting advantage, Eastern was out-rebounded 24-16 and UNC turned 12 offensive rebounds into a 10-2 advantage in second chance points. Eastern also had five players with two fouls apiece in the first 20 minutes.
 
Eastern forged a 51-47 lead with an 8-0 run early in the second half, then it became a back-and-forth affair for the next eight minutes. The Eagles then regained a 64-59 advantage at the 4:15 mark on a basket by Peatling.
 
Davison hit a big basket with 2:20 left to give EWU a 66-61 lead, and UNC then made just one of its last five shots. The Eagles clinched the win with a pair of free throws by Kim Aiken Jr. with 5.1 seconds to play and provide the final margin.
 
 
Records . . .
 
* Eastern is now 21-8 overall and 14-4 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. But the Eagles were back on top after games played on Feb. 27, including a 57-56 loss by Montana at Northern Arizona. Through games played on Saturday, including Montana's 79-71 win at Sacramento State, Eastern joins Montana (14-4) in a tie for the top spot. Northern Colorado (13-5) is third, followed by Portland State (10-8), Northern Arizona (10-9), Montana State (9-9), Southern Utah (8-10), Sacramento State (8-11) and Weber State (7-10). Idaho State (3-14) and Idaho (3-15) round out the current standings, with ISU playing at WSU on Monday (March 2).
 
* Northern Colorado was coming off an easy 93-49 home victory over Idaho, and is now 20-9 overall and 13-5 in the Big Sky. Eastern defeated UNC 89-84 in overtime on Jan. 27 at Reese Court.
 
* Northern Colorado features the guard tandem of Jonah Radebaugh and Bodie Hume, who average more than 30 points per game between them. Radebaugh entered the EWU game with averages of 16.0 points, 6.4 rebounds, 6.5 assists and 1.5 steals per game, and the 6-foot-6 Hume was averaging 14.4 points, 4.8 boards, 1.3 assists, 1.0 blocked shots and 0.9 steals and per outing. A third guard, Trent Harris, was averaging 10.7 points.
 
* The Bears are efficient on offense and stingy on defense. Besides their 3-point shooting, their 10.2 turnovers per outing entering the EWU game were the fewest in the Big Sky and ranked fifth in the nation. Northern Colorado also led the league in ranking 15th in the nation in 3-point field goal percentage offense (.381) and 12th nationally in three-point field goal percentage defense (.289). As a result, the Bears had a league-best +12.2 scoring margin to rank 13th nationally, and were 22nd nationally and second in the league in scoring defense (62.6). Radebaugh entered the game leading the Big Sky and ranking 10th in the nation in assists (6.5). Harris led the league in 3-pointers per game (3.04 to rank 19th in the nation) and 3-point field goal percentage (.390, 38th).
 
 
What's Next . . .
 
* The Big Sky Conference season ends the way it began as EWU closes out the regular season by playing Idaho State on Thursday (March 5) and Weber State on Saturday (March 7) in rematches of games played back in December to open the league schedule. Tipoff against the Bengals is 6:05 p.m. and the Senior Day game versus Weber State begins at 2:05 p.m. and will be televised by Eleven Sports.
 
* After opening the league season with a 79-77 road win over Weber State on Dec. 28, the Eagles were knocked off by Idaho State and first-year head coach Ryan Looney by a 75-69 score two nights later. The Bengals entered action Saturday (Feb. 29) with a 3-14 record in the league and 6-20 mark overall, while the Wildcats are 7-9 in the league and 11-16 overall.
 
* 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.
 
* Besides Eastern's win at Northern Colorado, another key game in the league title chase will be Northern Colorado's game at Montana on March 5. The Bears also play at Montana State on March 7, and Montana hosts Southern Utah to wrap up the regular season on March 7. Eastern's remaining games are versus Idaho State on March 5 and Weber State on March 7.
 
* If Eastern finishes as the No. 1 seed, they will open Big Sky Tournament play on Thursday, March 12 at 11 a.m. Pacific time versus the winner of the game between the No. 8 seed and No. 9 seed the previous day. As the No. 2 seed, EWU would play at 4:30 p.m. on March 12 against the No. 7 versus No. 10 winner. As the No. 3 seed, Eastern would play the late game on March 12 (approximately 6:45 p.m. Pacific) against the victor between No. 6 and No. 11. At this point, hurting EWU in a tiebreaker scenario are a pair of losses to Montana, but EWU did have a season sweep over UNC. The Bears knocked off the Grizzlies in their lone previous meeting thus far.
 
 
More Notes . . .
 
* The Eagles are 15-12 all-time versus UNC (10-3 in Cheney, 5-9 in Greeley), with the first meeting taking place on Dec. 20, 1971, when Eastern beat the Bears 76-68 in Greeley, Colo. Since then, all of the meetings have been with EWU as a member of NCAA Division I (since 1983-84), starting in the 2006-07 season when the Bears became a Big Sky Conference member. Eastern had lost the last two times they've played in Greeley, but the Eagles have won the last six times the squads have met in Cheney dating back to an 88-80 Bear win in overtime on Feb. 28, 2013. Eastern has won nine of the last 12 overall since that loss, including a recent stretch of six victories in the last eight meetings.
* 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 Rebounding: "Rebounding was a huge thing for us. We've been rebounding the ball terrific as of late, but they did a great job in the first half on the glass. We thought that was an area we could take advantage of. When you get stops and hold this team down, you have to get the rebound."
 
On Defense by Robertson: "We put in a freshman, Tyler Robertson, in against Radebaugh. He said he could guard him and he came in and did an amazing job. We went up when he went into the game and Kim Aiken got into foul trouble. Tyler was ready to go and he played great basketball. You never know when your number is going to be called, and he was ready. His defense was huge. Radebaugh still had 21 points and seven assists, but he took 24 shots and had four turnovers."
 
On Shooting: "You just have to trust your players to make plays. We thought we could get some baskets at the rim and make some mid-range jump shots. We work on them every day so we might as well let them shoot them. They have all the confidence in the world and made some big shots. That was great to see."