A new era for the Eastern Washington University men's basketball team began tonight. The Eagles, along with first-year head coach David Riley, traveled to Reno, Nev., for their season-opener against Nevada on Tuesday night (Nov. 9) in the Lawlor Events Center. Despite having five players in double-figures, Nevada's size proved to be a bit much for the Eagles who fell by a final score of 91-76.
 
Linton Acliese III turned in a double-double in his Eagle debut with 19 points (8-of-16 from the field) and 12 boards. Angelo Allegri was close behind with 13 points and seven rebounds, and a trio of Eagles in Ethan Price, Steele Venters and Rylan Bergersen had 12 points each.
 
The Eagles improved their shooting percentage from 37.84 percent (14-37) from the field in the first half to 51.72 percent (15-29) in the second half, shooting 43.9 percent overall. Nevada shot over 50 percent in both halves, ending with 50.7 percent (37-73) for the game.
 
"The bright side is, in the second half our players flowed better and moved the ball better. Early on, we got sped up and turned the ball over, but for the most part our players got better as the game went on on our end of the floor, but defensively Nevada got into the paint a little too much," said Riley. "Nevada executed their game plan, and that's where we have to get better. Our defense relies on chemistry and right now we looked a little disjointed and we weren't connected like we should be. We didn't want to give Desmond Cambridge open looks, we wanted to make it more of a paint game, but Nevada got into the paint too much."  
 
Casson Rouse gave Eastern Washington an early 4-3 lead before the Wolf Pack found their footing and pulled ahead 8-4. The Eagles would cut the deficit to 8-6 after a dunk from Allegri before Nevada extended the lead to 13-6. Allegri then drained back-to-back three-pointers and Venters followed up with one to lock the Eagles with Nevada, 15-15.
 
Ethan Price's first basket as an Eagle came by way of a three-pointer and it put Eastern Washington within striking distance, 19-18. After the Wolf Pack used a 6-0 run to pull ahead 25-20, the Eagles were there with a 6-0 run of their own, cutting the deficit back down to 25-24. Eastern Washington found its final lead of the game after a layup from Acliese, 26-25, with 4:10 left in the first half. Nevada then used a 9-0 run for a 34-26 lead and another 7-0 run helped the Wolf Pack maintain a 43-34 lead at the half.
 
Eastern Washington got as close as nine points in the second half, but Nevada began to run away and led by as many as 19 points with 9:24 left to play. With 1:52 remaining, a layup by Acliese made it a 12-point game, 85-73, but the Eagles were charged with an offensive foul and Nevada outscored EWU 6-3 in the final moments en route to the 91-76 victory.
 
EAGLE DEBUTS: Linton Acliese III, Angelo Allegri, Ethan Price, Rylan Bergersen and Imhotep George made their Eagle debuts, with Acliese, Price and George earning a spot in the starting lineup.
 
WIN-LOSS RECORDS: Eastern Washington starts the season 0-1 while Nevada is 1-0. The Eagles now trail the Wolf Pack 2-12 all-time.
 
TOP PERFORMANCES: In his first career game with the Eagles, Linton Acliese III earned a double-double with 19 points and 12 rebounds. He was 8-of-16 from the field to shoot 50 percent.
 
Angelo Allegri finished with 13 points and seven rebounds and was 3-of-7 from three-point range.
 
A trio of Eagles finished with 12 points each in Ethan Price, Steele Venters and Rylan Bergersen. Price dished out six assists to lead the team, while Venters had four.
 
KEY STATISTICS: Eastern Washington was 29-of-66 (43.9%) overall from the field, 9-of-26 (34.6%) from three-point range and 7-of-10 (70%) from the charity stripe. Nevada shot 37-73 (50.7%) from the field, 7-of-21 (33.3%) from distance and 10-of-15 (66.7%) from the free throw line.
 
Twenty-one of Eastern's 29 field goals were assisted, compared to 25 for 37 for the Wolf Pack. Eastern Washington was out-rebounded 42-to-37 and committed 14 turnovers to Nevada's nine. Nevada also had seven blocked shots to EWU's one.
 
The Wolf Pack scored 46 points in the paint compared to 36 for the Eagles.
 
UP NEXT: The Eagles will stay on the road, playing at UC Davis on Friday, Nov. 12 at 2 p.m. Pacific time in Davis, Calif., at the University Credit Union Center. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ or on 700-AM ESPN. For fans attending in person, proof of COVID vaccination or a negative test is required to enter.
 
The Eastern Washington football team also takes on the Aggies on Saturday, Nov. 13 at 5 p.m. If fans want to purchase tickets for both, they are available for a discount at goagspromo.com with the code EASTERNWASHINGTON.
 
MORE COMMENTS FROM HEAD COACH DAVID RILEY:
 
On Linton Acliese III: "Linton is a really good player and a great person, I love his energy. We have some great players on this team and Linton showed what he was capable of tonight, and I think he's capable of even more."
 
On Ethan Price: "Ethan is so skilled and is a great teammate. He understands the game and sees it well. He had a tough matchup in his first Division I game. He went against some really good bigs. I'll put Nevada up with any bigs in the country, they're really good. Obviously, they have weapons on the perimeter that make them go, but those bigs are tough and hats off to Ethan for showing he can go to battle with them in his first game."
 
On Tonight's Takeaways: "At the end of the day, we have to control our controllables. We had so many things that we understood that we needed to do in our scout, but we need to get better at that. Grant Sherfield is an NBA guy, the Mountain West Preseason Player of the Year, and they're bigs are also good. We won't see those types of bigs in the Big Sky, but there are some really good players in the Big Sky and this is the best the Big Sky has ever been going in to the season, in my mind. So, we have to get better and improve. There are plenty of things to work on and control."
 
On Playing at UC Davis on Friday: "I'd like to see a better defensive performance and it's going to take a lot of communication. UC Davis is a potent-offensive team with a dynamic point guard, we're probably playing two of the better point guards on the West Coast in our first two games. It's going to be a fun matchup and I'm excited for our players to get out there. We have two days to learn, grow and put a scout in and our players are going to be ready for it, they're excited."