The defense shined and four players scored in double figures in a complete team win for the Eastern Washington University men's basketball team today (Dec. 11) at North Dakota. The Eagles won 76-60 at the Betty Englestad Sioux Center in Grand Forks, N.D. to improve to 5-4 (0-1 Big Sky) on the season.
 
The win marks the fourth-straight over the former Big Sky Conference foe, as the Fighting Hawks drop to 3-8.
 
Four Eagles scored in double figures, led by Rylan Bergersen with 20 points. Angelo Allegri followed with 14 and Ethan Price added 12. In his first game back after missing three due to injury, Linton Acliese III added 11 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Mason Landdeck and Ellis Magnuson led the way with six and five assists, respectively.
 
The Eagles shot 50 percent from the field and held the Fighting Hawks to 29.9 percent.
 
"Our players have really taken a step up in the last couple of games. Colorado was an amazing defensive game. We're starting to move on a string a little bit and communicate, it's fun to watch," said head coach David Riley. "We had some really good stretches. In the first half, it was fun to watch our players pick on mis-matches and understand the spacing and how we want to do it. It's coming together a little bit, we still have some room to grow. North Dakota jumped it up a bit in the second half and put us on our toes early, but we're taking steps every day and we have a big step ahead of us to keep growing."
 
It took the Eagles until the 17:11 mark to find the scoreboard, but when they did, they fired off seven-straight points to take a 7-2 lead in the early goings.
 
The game moved in to a 7-7 tie following a 5-0 run from the Fighting Hawks, but EWU pulled back ahead with a 6-0 run that included four points from Rylan Bergersen, who had 10 first-half points.
 
Eastern Washington held a slight 13-12 lead when they pulled away with a 14-0 run and the lead stretched to 27-12 for the largest advantage of the game so far. North Dakota found some life in them, responding with an 8-0 run that put them back within seven points, 27-20 to force an EWU timeout.
 
Out of the break, a dunk by Steele Venters got the Eagles back on track and EWU used another 6-0 run to help lead 35-26 at the half.
 
Besides Bergersen, Angelo Allegri was also in double figures at the halfway mark with 11 points after going 3-for-3 from three-point range. Eastern Washington forced 11 first half turnovers and held UND to 25.9 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes. The Eagles also outscored the Fighting Hawks in the paint, 18-to-4.
 
The Fighting Hawks found their groove behind the three-point to start the second half, firing off two-straight to cut the lead to 38-32 and then another to cut the lead to five, 45-40. From there, the Eagles regrouped and used an 8-0 run to move ahead 53-40.
 
Eastern stretched the lead to as many 20, 70-50, thanks to a 10-2 run down the stretch. The closest the Fighting Hawks would get for the remainder of the game was within 14 points after a 6-0 run cut the lead to 70-56 with 2:30 left to play. The Eagles stayed collected, holding UND to just four more points after the run en route to the 76-60 victory.
 
TOP PERFORMANCES: Rylan Bergersen led the Eagles with 20 points, half of which came on a perfect 10-of-10 from the free throw line. He was 5-of-9 from the field and added four assists, three rebounds, two steals and a block.
 
Angelo Allegri scored a career-high 14 points for the Eagles, going 4-of-5 from three-point range and 5-of-8 overall. He added seven rebounds, a block and a steal.
 
Ethan Price scored 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the field and added five rebounds. In his first game back since missing three due to injury, Linton Acliese III scored 11 points on 4-of-6 from the field and led the team with eight rebounds. He also added two blocks and a steal.
 
Mason Landdeck led the way with six assists and Ellis Magnuson added five. Steele Venters scored nine points to go with two steals and four rebounds.
 
KEY STATISTICS: Eastern's defense shined this afternoon, holding the Fighting Hawks to 29.9 percent (20-67) from the field. UND did make 12 three-pointers, but were 33.3 percent overall from behind the arc. At the free throw line, North Dakota made 8-of-10.
 
Offensively, Eastern Washington shot 50 percent from the field (27-54), 37.5 percent from behind the arc (9-24) and were 13-of-15 (86.7%) from the free throw line.
 
The Eagles out-scored UND 32-16 in the paint and forced 16 turnovers that turned into 22 points. EWU only committed 12 turnovers. Seventeen of EWU's baskets were assisted, and although they were held to four offensive rebounds compared to UND's 15, they were just edged overall, 40-37.
 
UP NEXT: Eastern Washington plays at Reese Court one last time in 2021 on Wednesday, Dec. 15 against Multnomah. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. in Cheney. Tickets are available on GoEags.com/tickets, and as a reminder, proof of COVID-19 vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test is required for entry to home games for fans ages 11 or older.