The Eastern Washington University men's basketball team hosted Southern Utah to an intense Big Sky Conference opener at Reese Court on Thursday night (Dec. 2). The Eagles fell behind 41-33 at the half and got as close to four points in the second, but the Thunderbirds left Cheney with the 89-76 victory.
 
With the loss, the Eagles drop to 3-4 and open conference play 0-1. Southern Utah, the preseason favorites, improves to 4-3 and 1-0.
 
"It's tough to dig yourself out of a hole. We made a run, we threw a punch, but they're a veteran team and threw one back and we weren't ready to respond to that. Maybe that's on me, maybe I should've gotten different players in there after the run, but it's tough to take players out when you're going on a run," said head coach David Riley. "We have to learn these lessons, and it sucks to learn them in games like this. It's a hard, hard lesson to learn especially in our first conference game this early, but we have to learn from it."
 
In a chippy first half, Southern Utah jumped out on a 6-0 run to hold an early 11-4 lead. The closest the Eagles could get was five points with 12:42 left to play in the first half. Eastern Washington was just 9-of-25 (36%) in the first half while the Thunderbirds made 18 of their 33 attempts to shoot 54.5 percent. At the end of the first period, EWU trailed 41-33.
 
The Thunderbirds opened up their largest lead of 53-36 to start the second half. That's when the Eagles found their rhythm, exploding on a 9-0 run in less than a minute thanks to consecutive three-pointers from Steele Venters and one from Ellis Magnuson, forcing a Southern Utah timeout after cutting the deficit to 53-45. Out of the break, a layup from Casey Jones made it an 11-0 EWU run as the Eagles pulled within six, 53-47.
 
Southern Utah remained in control, pulling back ahead by a score of 66-52 on a 7-0 run. With 5:47 remaining, the Eagles found an 8-0 spurt to cut their deficit down to 73-69. However, that would be the closest Eastern Washington would get to the Thunderbirds who pulled ahead down the stretch. Despite each side scoring 45 second-half points, EWU could not overcome the first half deficit and fell 89-76.
 
TOP PERFORMANCES: Steele Venters put up his third 20-plus point performance of the season with 29 points. He was 9-of-17 from the field, three of which were three-pointers. He also added five rebounds and two assists.
 
Rylan Bergersen was the other Eagle in double figures, adding 15 points. He dished a team-high seven assists, grabbed six boards, and led the team with two steals.
 
Angelo Allegri also had two steals and added eight points. Ellis Magnuson scored five points and had four assists and four rebounds.
 
KEY STATISTICS: Southern Utah shot over 54 percent in both halves, ending the game 34-for-62 from the field (54.8%), 8-of-25 from three-point range (32%) and 13-of-20 from the free throw line (65%).
 
The Eagles improved drastically from the first to the second half. After shooting just 36 percent in the first, they were 14-of-27 for 51.9 percent in the second half, ending the day 23-of-52 overall (44.2%). EWU drained 11 three-pointers on 31 attempts and were 19-of-27 from the free throw line.
 
Eastern committed 16 turnovers and forced 15. Seventeen of its 23 field goals were assisted. Southern Utah outscored EWU 42-to-20 in the paint and won the rebounding battle, 38-to-29.
 
UP NEXT: Eastern Washington has a quick turnaround, as it heads to Omaha for a Saturday morning matchup against the Mavericks. Tip-off is at 10 a.m. Pacific time on Omavs.com or on 700-AM ESPN. The Eagles play at Colorado (Dec. 8) and North Dakota (Dec. 11) before heading back to Cheney to host Multnomah (Dec. 15).
 
MORE COMMENTS FROM HEAD COACH DAVID RILEY:
 
On the Ratio 31 Three-Point Attempts in 52 Field Goal Attempts: "We aren't aiming for a ratio, we're going to shoot a lot of three's. That was probably too many, but we're going to take what the defense gives us. I don't think we took what the defense gave us in the first half. We jacked up some early three's that we didn't need and that comes down to us shooting ourselves in the foot a little bit. But there isn't a real ratio, we play position-less and free and take what they give us. If their scout lays off of us, we have great shooters and we are going to let it fly."
 
On Facing Omaha Early on Saturday: "We need consistency. That's what we've been preaching all year and we've talked about it. We got the result we wanted against Washington State. And in every single game, besides UC Davis, we've had really good moments and had some bad moments and bad stretches, but we have to find a way to get the consistency right. Our players can't make errors that they don't need to make and we need to continue to play aggressive. The biggest thing is playing 40 minutes."