The wait induced by Covid-19 protocols was agonizing, the game almost as much.
 
After nearly a month without a game – and over a month without playing on its home court – the Eastern Washington University men's basketball team edged Southern Utah 75-63 Thursday (Jan. 14) in its league home opener at Reese Court. The game was a match-up of teams who had yet to lose a Big Sky Conference game, and EWU's first after a full 25 days without a game.
 
Junior Tanner Groves paced the Eagles with 25 points, and EWU led for 39:25 of the game – but never comfortably. Senior Jacob Davison hit a pair of crucial 3-pointers in the second half and finished with 15 points, and junior Kim Aiken Jr. chipped in nine points and 10 rebounds.
 
 "We're glad to be back playing," said Eastern head coach Shantay Legans, whose team sank just 40 percent of its shots for the game and was out-rebounded 43-40. "Our guys were excited to play but had a lot of rust."
 
The Thunderbirds never led, and the game was tied for just 35 seconds. The Eagles, who led by as many as 13, will take on SUU again on Saturday (Jan. 16) at 12:05 p.m. Eastern snapped Southern Utah's nine-game winning streak, dating back to a season-opening loss on Nov. 25.
 
"Our team toughened in the second half for a couple of stretches," said Legans. "We did what we needed to do to win this game. It's going to be another huge game Saturday playing against one of the top teams in the league."
 
Eastern senior guard Jack Perry finally got the opportunity to play in his 100th career game, and he was able to do it on EWU's home court. Perry closed the night with five points, three steals and a pair of assists. He entered Thursday's game versus the Thunderbirds with 99 games and 64 starts worth of experience for the Eagles, and entered with career totals of 550 points, 214 assists, 46 steals and 133 3-pointers made.
 
 
Records
 
* The Eagles, the preseason and defending regular season champions, are 3-4 overall and 2-0 in the Big Sky Conference, and hadn't played since an 80-64 victory at Northern Arizona on Dec. 19. The first game of that doubleheader was canceled because of Covid-19 testing protocols and will not be made up. Eastern beat The College of Idaho 80-56 on Dec. 11 for their first victory of the season and lone game at Reese Court until playing SUU.
 
* Eastern has had a trio of losses to top-notch NCAA Division I competition by a total of just 11 points after leading at halftime and with 10 minutes left in each.  One of those was an 80-75 loss on Dec. 15 at Saint Mary's, which had entered the game ranked fourth in the CollegeInsider.com top 25 poll of mid-major teams. Two of those losses were versus Pac-12 Conference foes Washington State and Arizona.
 
* Southern Utah is now 4-1 in the league and 9-2 overall after having its nine-game winning streak snapped. While Eastern hadn't played since Dec. 19, Southern Utah was coming off a home sweep of Idaho (85-80 and 83-67) on Jan. 7 and 9. The Thunderbirds haven't lost since losing their season opener at Loyola Marymount on Nov. 25 by an 85-83 score. Besides Idaho, SUU also swept Montana in December – 64-63 on Dec. 3 and 75-74 on Dec. 5. Thus, its first three league wins came by a combined total of just seven points before the 16-point win over the Vandals.
 
 
Top EWU Performers
 
Junior Tanner Groves hit 7-of-15 field goals, 2-of-3 3-pointers and all nine of his free throws to finish with 25 points in just under 23 minutes of action. He also had seven rebounds.
Junior Kim Aiken Jr., a preseason All-Big Sky selection, had nine points and 10 rebounds, coming a single point from his first double-double of the season. Eastern is 12-4 in the 16 career games he's had a double-double. He also added three blocked shots and four assists, and sank 3-of-8 field goals and 3-of-4 free throws.
Senior Jacob Davison, the preseason MVP in the Big Sky Conference, hit a trio of 3-pointers to finish with 15 points. Overall he sank 4-of-8 shots from the field and 4-of-5 free throws, and also had four rebounds.
Sophomore Tyler Robertson chipped in nine points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals.
Sophomore Jacob Groves, the younger brother of junior Tanner Groves, added six points. Both Groves brothers are graduates of Shadle Park High School in Spokane, Wash.
 
 
Game Details & Turning Point
 
The Eagles jumped out to an early 9-2 lead, thanks to seven early points by Tanner Groves. Later in the half, a 7-0 EWU run gave Eastern a 27-19 advantage at the 5:34 mark. Aiken's rebound basket with 4:17 left in the half opened EWU's biggest lead of the half at 10 points, and the Eagles led 35-30.
 
Tanner Groves had nine at halftime to lead EWU, with his brother Jacob Groves chipping in six. Eastern sank just 1-of-9 3-pointers in the first half, but forced 10 SUU turnovers. The Thunderbirds made four of its last six treys of the half to go 5-of-17 before intermission.
 
Eastern maintained its leas in the second half, although the Thunderbirds were able to cut the lead to a single point twice. But EWU was able to respond each time, and a Davison 3-pointer with 6:37 to play put EWU up again by 10 at 59-49. Another trey by Davison gave EWU's its biggest lead of the night at 68-55 at the 3:04 mark.
 
 
Series Notes
 
* The Eagles are 16-6 all-time against Southern Utah (9-1 in Cheney, 5-5 in Cedar City, 2-0 on a neutral court). The Eagles have won the last nine meetings in Cheney, and haven't lost to the Thunderbirds at Reese Court since Dec. 21, 1993, by a 70-68 score. Eastern has a four-game winning streak overall in the series, and had lost the last two meetings in Cedar City until a 69-51 win on Feb. 27, 2020. That was part of a season sweep by the Eagles that also included an 81-78 overtime victory at home for the Eagles on Jan. 25, 2020.
 
* Included in EWU's recent victories over SUU was 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. 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. Southern Utah announced earlier on Thursday (Jan. 14) its intent to leave the Big Sky Conference for the Western Athletic Conference (WAC), effective July 1, 2022.
 
 
More Game Notes
 
 
* Eastern's last four games were canceled because of a positive Covid-19 case within the Eastern program and subsequent protocols and procedures. Thus, EWU went a full 25 days without a game, wiping out anticipated doubleheaders versus both Portland State and Weber State. Eastern hadn't played at home since Dec. 11.
 
* A year ago, the Thunderbirds were 18-14 overall and 12-18 in the league to finish fourth. In this year's preseason polls, Southern Utah was picked to finish sixth by the media and seventh by the coaches. Illinois transfer Tevian Jones entered Thursday's game averaging 19.2 points to pace the Thunderbirds, including a team-high 28 3-pointers in 79 attempts (35.4 percent). The 6-foot-7 junior entered second in the league in scoring and his average of 2.8 made treys per game led the league. He's supported by three other players averaging in double figures heading into action this week – 6-6 junior Maizen Fausett (13.6), 6-3 guard John Knight III (12.5) and 6-0 guard Dre Marin (10.5). Fausett also averaged 6.6 rebounds per game to rank eighth in the Big Sky, and Knight led the league in assists (4.5) and Marin was ninth (2.7).
 
 
On the Horizon
 
* Saturday's rematch versus the Thunderbirds at noon Pacific time will be available via PlutoTV channel 1053 and via https://bigskyconf.com/watchbigsky. Eastern games are also aired live on radio on 700-AM ESPN, 105.3-FM, via the web at tunein.com and via mobile phone app, with pre-game coverage starting a half-hour prior to tipoff. Larry Weir serves as the play-by-play broadcaster. Live statistics from all Eastern home games are available via http://ewustats.com.
 
* Eastern is scheduled to return to the road to face Northern Colorado for a doubleheader on Jan. 21 and 23 against a Bears team ranked third by the media and fifth by the coaches in the preseason poll. Led by first-year head coach Steve Smiley, UNC is 5-6 overall and 2-4 in the Big Sky heading into road games at Idaho on Jan. 14 and 16. The Bears suffered a pair of home losses to Montana State recently, falling 79-67 on Jan. 7 and then 76-74 in overtime on Jan. 9.
 
* Preseason All-Big Sky selection Bodie Hume leads the Bears with averages of 16.5 points and 7.5 rebounds per game entering the Idaho series. The 6-foot-6 junior guard is supported by 6-4 junior guard Daylen Kountz with averages of 11.9 points and 3.0 rebounds per game, and 6-2 guard Matt Johnson averages 10.5 points, 2.4 assists and 2.1 boards. A year ago, the Bears were 22-9 overall and 15-5 in the Big Sky to finish second behind EWU.
 
 
More Comments from Head Coach Shantay Legans
 
On Thunderbirds: "Southern Utah is a really good team and we had to come out and really fight for this win. They did a good job of putting us in some tough situations early in the game, but we have to be much better rebounding. They had 15 offensive rebounds and came in here and played really hard and really well. They had a nine-game winning streak and our hat is off to them."
 
On Tanner Groves: "I was on him at halftime to be more aggressive and more assertive. There were some 50-50 calls that could have gone either way. That was tough, but when you are the biggest guy on the court you get those foul calls. So he has to be a little smarter than that. He's doing everything we've asked and he did a great job of being our general on the defensive end. Defensively he was a stud tonight, and he made some shots. He really did some things tonight that really stretched the game open for us."
 
On Long Layoff: "We over-prepare. Our players early in the game were doing a lot of thinking, and that had a lot to do with me for putting so much into this game. This is the only game we've played in a month. We put so much into one game, and watched all their other games and tried to figure out the best way to win. If we just let our team play, get downhill and have some fun, they will show you exactly what they can do – and they did that in stretches. I slowed them down tonight."
 
On Intensity Level: "It's huge. I think we are one of the better defensive teams in the league, especially when we focus on it – and we did that tonight. We have players on the court with experience, and they came through tonight. We are the only ones in the gym and we have to bring our own energy. The team did a great job of being there for one another. If they weren't playing they were cheering. That's huge in these types of settings and it's going to be huge for the rest of the season."
 
On Rematch Saturday: "We want to make some shots and we have to be better on the glass. We have to have attention to detail with our scout – when we are guarding personnel you have to understand what they are doing offensively. A lot of their players are very good and talented – they may be the most talented teams in the league. Player-for-player they are very good. You have to make sure we bring the experience and make sure we are understanding how to shut down certain things they like to do."