On Thursday the Eagles took care of business and on Saturday they'll show their emotions.
 
Riding a 17-0 run in the second half in which it made 10-straight shots, the Eastern Washington University men's basketball team earned at least a share of the regular season Big Sky Conference crown in part by beating Idaho State 100-77 on Thursday (March 5) at Reese Court in Cheney, Wash.
 
Coupled with Montana's 71-64 home loss to Northern Colorado, the 15-4 Eagles can wrap up its first outright title since 2004 when it plays its Senior Day game versus Weber State Saturday (March 7) at 2:05 p.m. in a game televised by Eleven Sports.
 
"It was a good one tonight," said Eastern head coach Shantay Legans. "We want to make sure everybody comes out Saturday and enjoys a huge game. We want to celebrate the season with our fans, and these are great young men. Mason is playing his last game at a very emotional time. We want people to cheer, cry, smile and have a good time – you have to love the game of basketball because it's brought us all together. Go Eags!"
 
Senior Mason Peatling had a near triple-double with 16 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists for the Eagles, who also had two players with over 20 points. Junior Jacob Davison had 23 with four assists, and redshirt freshman Casson Rouse had a career-high 21, eclipsing his previous best of 14 points.
 
All 11 players who played scored for EWU, which sank 62 percent of its shots in the second half after leading 46-41 at intermission. The Eagles closed the game at 57 percent and had a 35-28 rebounding advantage. Eastern cracked the 100-point mark for the third time this season, but first against a NCAA Division I opponent.
 
Eastern has clinched at least a share of 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). It's postseason fate will be determined starting March 12 when Eastern plays in the quarterfinals of the Big Sky Conference Tournament in Boise, Idaho.
 
Eastern is now 22-8 on the season with a six-game winning streak. Eastern has already achieved the school's second-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 15-4 in the league, Eastern has also achieved the most wins in 33 seasons in the Big Sky, breaking the previous record of 14 set in 2014-15.
 
Eastern has won 13 of its last 15 games in the league. The Eagles are 10-6 on the road and 12-2 at home this season, including an 8-2 road mark in league games and 7-2 at home. 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 held the lead for 18:54 of the first half, but could never shake the Bengals who forged three ties totaling the other 1:06. Eastern used a 6-0 run to take a 27-20 lead, but the Bengals hit 53 percent of their shots in the first half and were within five at intermission, 46-41. Davison scored 16 of EWU's points and Rouse had 10.
 
The Eagles broke it open in the second half with their 17-0 run, holding ISU scoreless for 3:48. During that stretch, EWU made 10-straight shots, including back-to-back 3-pointers by Perry to cap the run. Rouse had seven and Peatling had the other four during the run.
 
 
Records . . .
 
* Eastern is now 22-8 overall and 15-4 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 Thursday, including Montana's 71-64 loss at home to Northern Colorado, EWU is in sole possession of first place in the league standing at 15-4 with one game to go. Eastern is followed by Montana (14-5) and Northern Colorado (14-5) in second, followed by Portland State (11-8), Montana State (10-9), Northern Arizona (10-10), Weber State (8-11), Southern Utah (8-11) and Sacramento State (8-11). Idaho State (4-15) and Idaho (3-16) round out the current standings
 
* More than two months ago, Eastern opened the league season with a 79-77 road win over Weber State on Dec. 28, but then 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 snapped a 12-game winning streak last Monday (March 2) by beating WSU 78-70, and ISU now has a 4-15 record in the league and 7-21 mark overall. Weber State beat Idaho 72-64 on Thursday, and is now 8-11 in the league and 12-18 overall.
 
 
What's Next . . .
 
* The Big Sky Conference season ends the way it began as EWU closes out the regular season by playing Weber State on Saturday (March 7) in a rematch of a game played back in December to open the league schedule. Tipoff on Senior Day game versus Weber State begins at 2:05 p.m. and will be televised by Eleven Sports. Eastern had opened the league season with a 79-77 road win over Weber State on Dec. 28.
 
* Weber State won four of five games between Jan. 25 and Feb. 8 to get them back into the conversation for a top five seed, but now will for sure play on the tournament's first day. Weber State is 8-6 at home and 4-8 on the road this season (0-4 on neutral courts).
 
* Entering action on Thursday night, senior guard Jerrick Harding paces Weber State with a 22.4 scoring average to lead the league and rank ninth in NCAA Division I, and was the preseason choice to win league MVP honors this season. He has a current total of 2,181 career points to rank third in league history behind the 2,272 scored by Jordan Davis of Northern Colorado and the record 2,518 points set by Tyler Hall of Montana State, both from 2016-19. Fellow guard Cody John averages 14.4 points for Weber State.
 
* 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.
 
* 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 . . .
 
* Eastern is now 49-30 all-time against ISU, including a 46-29 record since becoming a member of NCAA Division I in the 1983-84 season (16-20 on the road, 29-8 at home, 1-1 at neutral sites). Despite the 74-71 loss in Pocatello earlier this season, the Eagles have still won 17 of the last 20 meetings overall and six of the last seven. That loss snapped EWU's five-game winning streak in the series, and a four-game streak in Pocatello. The last time EWU had lost to the Bengals was on March 3, 2016, by a 75-71 score in Cheney. Last season, Eastern beat the Bengals at home (65-55) and won on the road (91-62). In 2018-19, Eastern triumphed in Pocatello 74-69 in the lone meeting between the two schools. Eastern has won 15 of the last 16 at Reese Court, with the lone loss since 2003 coming on March 3, 2016, when EWU was upset by ISU 75-71 at Reese Court. Eastern had won 65-57 at home in the 2014-15 season, extending EWU's home winning streak versus ISU to 13 games dating back to a 65-63 loss on March 1, 2003. Eastern had an overall eight-game winning streak snapped in the 2013-14 season when the Bengals prevailed 72-83 in Pocatello.
 
* 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 Offense: "Our guys hit some shots and did some things offensively we haven't shown in a long time. When you make shots and got on a hot stretch like we did, that's tough to play against. Idaho State came in with a great game plan, a lot of energy and a lot of fight, but we played well. It was a fun game for us to crack the 100-point mark. At the same time, it was a hard-fought game and we may see them again. They are a good team and we'll have to be ready."
 
On Defense & Mason Peatling: "Mason is a great leader, and that's one thing we'll have to make sure we continue to hang our hat on. The defense we played was huge. They shot 51 percent, but they were only 5-of-14 from the 3-point line – and we defended the free throw line really well. But we have to always be better and be smart, and we have to do a better of job of understanding how to guard. We did give up a lot of points in the middle of the paint."
 
On Versatility: "We're really a tough team to guard because we have multiple players who can do a lot of different things. We've changed a little bit with how we play, and we have guys who can put the ball on the floor, hit shots and defend different positions. When we do a good job with that, it puts us in a good position. We have to play defense to play offense, and that's one thing we talk about every day. If you don't defend you don't get to play offense. Offense is the fun part of the game and we want them to be tough and defend. If you know that your coach is going to let you play and be creative on offense, then you'll play defense the way it's supposed to be played. That something you can see the players doing right now."