It was a tale of two halves in the Good Sam Empire Classic Championship game tonight (Nov. 20) as the Eastern Washington University men's basketball team played Texas State University at a neutral site in Northridge, Calif. The Eagles led for the entirety of the first half and the Bobcats took their first lead with 14:05 left to play in the second and never looked back, as Eastern Washington fell 81-74.
 
With the loss, EWU falls to 2-3 on the young season while Texas State wins the Good Sam Empire Classic and improves to 3-2. Three Eagles scored in double figures, led by Steele Venters with 23 points. Rylan Bergersen added 15 points and Linton Acliese III followed with a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds. Venters was named to the all-tournament team.
 
"There is a lot of learning to be done. Our big thing is to keep taking steps forward. Twenty turnovers are a lot and we have to do a better job. It was a lot of basketball in two days and we had a lot of players play over 40 minutes in yesterday's game, but our players came out there and played tough," said head coach David Riley. "After the game, we talk about taking steps forward and not making the same mistake twice. We don't want to lose two games the same way. At UC Davis, they were tougher than we were and I don't think that was the case tonight. We just didn't execute like we needed to do and gave up some dribble penetration and let their leading scorer get off a bit in the second half. Now, it's time to watch the film and grow and we have a really big test against Washington State next week. We have to continue to build step-by-step and get better because we have a tough, talented, team with the right mindset."
 
Eastern Washington was a perfect five-of-five from the field to start the game, and four different Eastern Washington Eagles made a three-pointer in the first two and a half minutes of play. The first threes came consecutively from Venters, Ethan Price and Bergersen for a 9-0 run. After Texas State made its first basket, Acliese III joined in on the fun with a triple for an early 12-2 lead.
 
The Eagles cooled down a bit, and Texas State cut the lead to 14-10 following a 6-0 run. The cooldown was short lived, as EWU pulled back ahead with a 7-0 run for the 21-10 advantage for the largest lead of the night. Eastern's sixth triple of the game came from Allegri for the 24-15 lead, but the Bobcats got back within one, 24-23, after an 8-0 run. A Mason Landdeck three-pointer and another triple from Angelo Allegri with under a minute and a half to go rebuilt the 33-25 lead at the half.
 
Texas State came out fast and outscored the Eagles 17-9 in the first six minutes for contest's first tie, 42-42. The Bobcats took their first lead of the game with 14:05 left to play and never trailed again, leading by as many as 12 points with 3:47 to go in the game, 70-58. The closest the Eagles got was Bergersen's final layup at the end of the contest, falling 81-74.
 
The Bobcats were held to 32.1 percent from the field (9-28) in the first half and improved to 64.0 percent (16-25) in the second. The Eagles were 12-of-26 (46.2) in the first and 9-of-25 (36.0) in the second.
 
TOP PERFORMANCES: Steele Venters led the team with 23 points on 8-of-13 from the field with three three-pointers. It marked his second game this season with at least 20 points.
 
Rylan Bergersen added 15 points while leading the team with six assists and three steals, also adding six boards.
Linton Acliese III finished with his third double-double of the season with 10 points and 10 rebounds and he also had the team's lone block.
 
Both Ethan Price and Angelo Allegri finished with 10 points each.
 
KEY STATISTICS: After making seven three-pointers in the first half, EWU finished the game 9-of-24. Between both teams, 48 fouls were called on the night. The Eagles were 19-of-24 from the line while the Bobcats were 25-of-32.
 
Eastern Washington won the rebounding battle, 34-32, but committed 20 turnovers and forced 14.
 
UP NEXT: Eastern Washington travels to Washington State to take on the Cougars in Pullman, Wash., on Saturday, Nov. 27 at 4:30 p.m.