Sophomore Tyler Robertson had a career-high with a near-perfect shooting performance, but he had lots of help on a team that was on the mark all day.
 
Five Eagles scored in double figures as the Eastern Washington University men's basketball team used runs of 16-2 and 16-0 to roll past Sacramento State 94-79 to complete a two-day sweep at Reese Court in Cheney, Wash., on Monday (Feb. 1).
 
Robertson scored 20 points on 7-of-8 shooting, while preseason Big Sky Conference Player of the Year Jacob Davison had 14. The Groves Bros – Big Sky Player of the Week Tanner Groves and his younger brother Jacob Groves -- scored 17 and 11, respectively. The fifth Eagle in double figures was sophomore Michael Meadows with 11.
 
The Eagles sank 63.3 percent of their shots from the field, including a 70-percent second half in which EWU out-scored the Hornets 51-33. From the point Sac State led by 10 in the first half, EWU out-scored Sac State 74-49 with a 16-2 run in the first half and 16 unanswered points in the second half putting the game away. Eastern's 94 points equaled a season high.
 
"Our offense in the second half was amazing," said Eastern head coach Shantay Legans. "We took it strong to the hole, and we had 46 points in the paint. We kept going after them and kept going after them. They had to pick one or the other in terms of defending us inside or outside – we ended up making some shots from everywhere."
 
Eastern had a dominating 46-22 advantage in points in the paint and 47-14 advantage in bench points. For the weekend, Eastern was a plus 40 in points in the paint (82-42) and plus 50 off the bench (73-23). Eastern made 11-of-21 3-point shots for a season-high 52 percent
 
"We had 47 bench points and that's hard to guard when you have players coming off the bench doing that," added Legans. "That really helped us out and got us in the flow."
 
After a three-day delay to play the game because of a positive Covid-19 case within their program, the Eagles finally played the Hornets on Sunday and triumphed 68-60. The two games were originally going to be played on Thursday/Saturday.
 
Now sitting at 5-2 in the Big Sky Conference as the preseason favorites to win the league title, Eastern succeeded in garnering its first three-game winning streak of the season.
 
In Sunday's game, the Eagles held Sac State to no field goals in the final 8:12 of the first half, scoring 14 unanswered points during the 18-1 run. The Eagles led 37-22 at intermission, and trailed by no less than four in the closing seconds of the game. Eastern had season bests defensively in allowing just 22 points in the first half and in holding the Hornets to 20 points inside the paint for the game.
 
Eastern is in a logjam in a league season impacted by numerous cancellations caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Through the five league games that were able to be played this week, Montana State sits on top at 6-0, followed by Southern Utah (6-2), Eastern (5-2), Weber State (4-2), Idaho State (5-3) and Sacramento State (4-4). Northern Colorado is at 5-6, followed by Northern Arizona (4-6), Montana (3-5), Portland State (2-4), and Idaho (0-9).
 
 
Records
 
* The Eagles, the preseason and defending regular season champions, are 6-6 overall and 5-2 in the Big Sky Conference. Because of the Covid-19 protocols and a positive case within EWU's program, Eastern went a full 25 days without a game. But they returned and beat Southern Utah 75-63 on Jan. 14, and two days later the Thunderbirds rallied from a 10-point second-half deficit to beat the Eagles 99-94. Eastern led for 65 1/2 out of a possible 80 minutes against SUU, but came out with a split.
 
* Sacramento State is now 6-4 overall and 4-3 in the league, and was coming off a home split versus Montana (78-66 loss on Jan. 21 and 89-83 double-overtime victory on Jan. 23). The prior week, they fell to Idaho State 57-56 on Jan. 16 and then beat the Bengals two days later by a 70-65 score.
 
 
Top EWU Performers
 
Sophomore Tyler Robertson came off the bench to score a career-high 20 points to go along with team highs of six rebounds and six assists. He hit his first seven shots in the game, including four 3-pointers, and finished 7-of-8 overall for the day. His previous career high of 17 points came earlier this season versus Saint Mary's on Dec. 15, 2020.
Junior Tanner Groves came up four rebounds short of his fourth-straight double-double, finishing with 17 points and six rebounds. Groves has five double-doubles this season and six in his career.
Senior Jacob Davison, the preseason MVP in the Big Sky Conference, came off the bench to score 14, and sank four 3-pointers in six attempts.
Sophomore Jacob Groves, the younger brother of junior Tanner Groves, had 11 points, five rebounds and three assists in 21 minutes of action as a starter. Both Groves brothers are graduates of Shadle Park High School in Spokane, Wash.
Sophomore Michael Meadows equaled his career high with 11 points, and also had three assists. He started for the third-straight game as he equaled the 11 points he had as a freshman versus Portland Bible.
Junior Kim Aiken Jr., a preseason All-Big Sky selection, contributed eight points, six rebounds and three assists.
Redshirt freshman Steele Venters came off the bench to chip in nine points in 19 minutes, hitting 3-of-4 shots from the field with a pair of 3-pointers.
 
 
Game Details & Turning Point
 
Eastern made the first basket of the game, but then Sacramento State's defense created offense as the Hornets used a 19-2 run to go up 19-4. Eastern hit four-straight shots to cut the lead to 23-15 with an 11-4 run, but Sac State still led by 10 at 30-20 when Eastern made its move.
 
While his brother, Tanner Groves, was on the bench with a pair of fouls, Jacob Groves picked up the scoring slack with eight points in a 16-2 Eagle surge. His basket gave EWU the lead, then a 3-pointer by Robertson capped the run and put the Eagles up 36-32 with 4:42 left in the half.
 
Sac State ended up hitting a desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer to lead 46-43 at halftime, a half in which EWU was guilty of 12 turnovers to Sac State's 10. The Hornets sank 62 percent of their shots – including 8-of-14 3-point attempts – while the Eagles sank 57 percent and 4-of-11 from the 3-point stripe.
 
Robertson scored 11 as he and the Groves brothers (eight each) combined for 27 of EWU's 43 points in the first 20 minutes, which included three lead changes and a pair of ties.
 
Eastern opened an 8-point lead in the second half, but led just 64-62 when it made its decisive scoring run. Robertson ignited it with a 3-pointer, and in between back-to-back baskets by Tanner Groves, he also altered a missed Sac State dunk attempt. Three other Eagles scoring in the run as EWU opened an 80-62 lead at the 6:59 mark.
 
Eastern led by as many as 21 and no less than 13 the rest of the way.
 
 
Series Notes
 
* Since Eastern became a member of NCAA Division I in the 1983-84 season, the Eagles are now 40-15 versus Sacramento State, and the two schools did not play against each other prior to that. A nine-game winning streak overall and five at home came to an end with a 59-56 home loss on Feb. 28, 2019. Prior to that setback, EWU hadn't lost in the series since falling in Sacramento by a 90-77 score on Jan. 17, 2015, and had not lost at home since a 60-53 defeat on Jan. 12, 2013. Eastern has won the last four times the two teams have played in Sacramento State, dating back to a 90-77 loss there on Jan. 17, 2015.  Eastern has a 24-4 record versus Sacramento State in Cheney, are 14-11 in Sacramento and 2-0 on a neutral court. Eastern is 2-0 versus Sac State in the Big Sky Conference Tournament, winning 89-70 in the 2017 quarterfinals in Reno, Nevada, and 91-83 in the 2015 quarterfinals in Missoula. En route to the 2015 title, the Eagles had a 16-of-17 shooting stretch versus the Hornets, including seven of its last eight in the first half and their first nine of the second half.
 
 
More Game Notes
 
* The Eagles are 6-6 overall and are starting to get on the roll like they did a year ago en route to the regular season league title. Last year after five games of the league season, the Eagles were 3-2 like this year's team, and had won the first game of what would become a six-game winning streak. Eastern ended the regular season with a streak of seven-straight victories to win the league title with a 16-4 mark.
 
* With only nine games played entering action this week, the Hornets had played the fewest games as any team in the Big Sky thus far (Eastern's 10 were the second-fewest).
 
 
On the Horizon
 
* Idaho will look for their first win of the season under former Eagle player Zac Claus when they host EWU on Thursday (Feb. 4), with the Eagles hosting the Vandals on Saturday (Feb. 6) in a game televised live regionally on SWX. Idaho is 0-13 overall and 0-10 after hosting and falling twice to Weber State this past weekend, falling 81-56 on Jan. 28 and then 81-62 on Jan. 30.
 
* Claus lettered for EWU in the 1996-97 and 1997-98 seasons after transferring from Nebraska, and is in his second season at the helm at UI. A year ago, Eastern slipped past the Vandals in Moscow by a 78-75 score in a game that featured 10 ties and 10 lead changes. But Claus had a happy homecoming in his first game back at Reese Court as Idaho's head coach, with the Vandals winning 74-71. Eastern's furious comeback fell short as the Eagles trailed at halftime by 18 and by as many as 24 in the second half.
 
* Entering this Thursday's game, 6-foot-8 senior forward Scott Blakney is averaging 11.6 points per game to lead Idaho, and 5-11 senior guard Damen Thacker averages 10.8 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.7 assists. Gabe Quinnett, a 6-4 sophomore guard, chips in 9.6 points and 2.1 assists. His father, Brian Quinnett, starred at Cheney High School and Washington State University before playing three seasons in the NBA for the New York Knicks and Dallas Mavericks.
 
* Since 1996 when Idaho first left the Big Sky Conference, the two schools have now played 28 times, with Eastern winning 16 of them. Idaho leads the all-time series 58-31. Since EWU became a NCAA Division I member in the 1983-84 season, EWU is 19-37 against Idaho (10-16 home, 8-17 away, 1-4 neutral). In the 14 meetings since Idaho re-joined the Big Sky Conference in the 2014-15 season, EWU is 8-6, but the average winning margin is just 6.9 points (total of 65). Not including a 25-point Eagle win in 2019, the average margin of the other 13 games is 5.5 points.
 
 
More Comments from Head Coach Shantay Legans
 
On Hornets: "Sac State came out and played very tough and very hard. I have to give them a lot of credit for the effort they gave. We had to battle them in a rock-'em, sock-'em type of game. In the second half we were able to spread them out a little bit because we hit some shots, then we were able to get inside too. They did a great job of guarding Tanner and trying to put him in some tough spots, but we still got him some easy looks. They came out and played tough early, and we have to make sure we do that as well."
 
On Scoring Inside the Paint: "That's a huge key for us. We have some players who can really get into the paint and make some plays, and we're finally doing that. When we are able to do that and get downhill, it makes the game that much easier. Tanner can score in any way, and Jacob Davison is hitting his threes and can drive it to the basket. Mike Meadows is driving it now, and Kim Aiken can too. We have a lot of threats out there and it puts us in a good position. When we can score that way it really helps us become an efficient team."
 
On Just Four Turnovers in Second Half: "We 12 turnovers in the first half, and that led to easy shots and baskets for them. When we didn't do that in the second half we got a lot more shots at the rim. When you make 21 field goals and they make 12, it really changes the game."
 
On Rebounding: "Teams are going to try to out-physical us and try to pressure us. We have to be tougher and be able to drive the ball to the basket and make plays. We just have to be smart, because in certain situations we can make teams pay. We have some size, but if teams play us on the outside we'll have inside position for rebounds. You have to really fight for them all the time because that is going to help us down the stretch. We have some size and quickness and we have to use that to our advantage."