The first half was ho-hum by comparison to the hum-dinger the Eagles had after intermission.
 
The Eastern Washington University used an 18-2 surge in the second half and went on to a dominating 85-69 victory over Montana State in a Big Sky Conference men's basketball game Saturday (Feb. 13) at Worthington Arena in Bozeman, Mont.  Eastern won the first game of the two-game series on Thursday (Feb. 11) by a 93-77 score.
 
The win was EWU's seventh-straight victory as the Eagles maintained first place in the Big Sky Conference standings. Eastern is 9-2 in the Big Sky and 10-6 overall with four games left to play.
 
With five Eagles scoring in double figures, Eastern scored 49 points in the second half thanks to a 57 percent and a stretch of over nine minutes in which MSU failed to sink a field goal. Eastern had 13 3-pointers – eight in the second half – and had a 34-28 rebounding edge. The Eagles were out-rebounded on Thursday and gave up 17 offensive rebounds, but allowed just seven Bobcat second chances in the rematch.
 
"Defense was what won us this game," said Eastern head coach Shantay Legans. "Rebounding was the key – I thought we could stop them in certain ways, but they are a very good offensive rebounding team. Our goal was to hold them to eight offensive rebounds or under, and we did that. That was a key part to me."
 
After leading 36-33 at halftime, Eastern blew it open in the second half with runs of 8-0 and 10-0, with Ellis Magnuson leading the way with nine of EWU's points during the overall 18-2 surge. A 3-pointer by Michael Meadows put the Eagles up by 24 with 11:18 left, and EWU led by no less than 16 the rest of the way.
 
Tanner Groves led Eastern with 16 points, scoring 14 of them in the first half. Meadows had 15, including 11 in the second half, and Magnuson scored nine of his 11 after intermission. Tyler Robertson had the first double-double of his career with 10 points and 10 rebounds, and Kim Aiken Jr., also had a double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds.
 
"Getting out to that lead in the second half made me feel good," added Legans. "We hit some shots and spread them out, so we really used their pressure against them in the second half."
 
Eastern's remaining schedule includes a home game versus Montana (Feb. 18), a road game at the Grizzlies (Feb. 20), and games versus Idaho State on March 3 and 5 at Reese Court in Cheney, Wash.
 
All 11 league teams will advance to the Big Sky Conference Basketball Championships, to be held for the third consecutive year at recently re-named Idaho Central Arena (formerly CenturyLink Arena) in Boise, Idaho. The neutral-site tournament will run from March 10-13, 2021, and begins two days earlier for the women.
 
 
Records
 
* The Eagles, defending regular season champions, are 10-6 overall and 9-2 in the Big Sky Conference.  Last week, Eastern swept Idaho to improve to 7-2 in the league standings and move into sole possession of first place in the league standings.
 
* With the Weber State at Montana game left to play on Saturday, Eastern is 9-2 in the Big Sky, followed by Southern Utah (6-2), Idaho State (7-3) Weber State (6-3), Montana State (6-4), and Sacramento State (4-4). Montana and Northern Colorado are at 5-6, followed by Northern Arizona (4-6), Portland State (3-5), and Idaho (0-14).
 
* In their second season under former Bobcat player Danny Sprinkle, the Bobcats are now 6-4 in the Big Sky and 9-7 overall with a four-game losing streak. The Bobcats were 6-0 in the league, but dropped their first conference game at Weber State 96-88 on Feb. 4 after having not lost since falling to 2-3 with a 62-59 loss at Portland on Dec. 22. They then suffered an 82-74 loss at Weber State on Feb. 6.
 
 
Top EWU Performers
 
* Junior Tanner Groves scored a team-high 16 points and had three rebounds and a blocked shot. He played just 21 minutes because of foul trouble and hit 7-of-9 shots from the field. He scored a career-high 26 points and had 12 rebounds in the first meeting with MSU, giving him six double-doubles this season and eight in his career.
* Sophomore Michael Meadows scored 15, including 11 in the second half. He has now scored in double figures in five-straight games.
* Junior Kim Aiken Jr., a preseason All-Big Sky selection, had his second double-double of the season and 18th of his career by finishing with 12 points and 13 rebounds. He also had a trio of assists and a steal, and now has 22 double-figure rebounding performance in his caree
* Sophomore Tyler Robertson had his first career double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds, and also contributed two assists and three steals.
* Sophomore Ellis Magnuson was the fifth Eagle to score in double figures, finishing with 11 to go along with three assists. He scored nine of his points in the second half, all in an 18-2 Eagle run to break the game open.
* Sophomore Casson Rouse came off the bench to hit a trio of 3-pointers in six attempts and finished with nine points.
* Redshirt freshman Steele Venters chipped in six points, hitting both of the 3-pointers he attempted.
* Sophomore Jacob Groves, the younger brother of junior Tanner Groves, finished with four points and was one of three Eagles with three assists. Both Groves brothers are graduates of Shadle Park High School in Spokane, Wash.
* Senior Jacob Davison, the preseason MVP in the Big Sky Conference, did not play for the second-straight game.
 
 
Game Details & Turning Point
 
The Eagles fell behind early by a 12-5 score when Montana State reeled off seven-straight points, but EWU had the same 7-0 run to knot the score at 16.
 
Eastern eventually took a 3-point lead on a pair of back-to-back triples by Rouse and Tanner Groves, and EWU led by as many as five. Tanner Groves scored 14 in the first half and EWU led 36-33 at intermission after five ties and five lead changes.

Meadows scored EWU's first six points of the second half, then a dunk by Jacob Groves on a pass from Magnuson gave EWU its biggest lead of the night at 44-35 just two minutes into the period.
 
Eastern then blew it open with runs of 8-0 and 10-0, with Magnuson leading the way with nine of EWU's 18 points. A 3-pointer by Meadows put the Eagles up 64-40 with 11:18 left.
 
Defense was also a key in the second half for Eastern. After MSU hit a field goal to cut the lead to 39-35 with 19:27 left, the Bobcats would only get seven free throws over the next 9:19. Montana State missed eight-straight shots during that stretch, and EWU also took several charges.
 
After opening its 24-point bulge – which was the biggest lead of the day for EWU -- the Eagles led by no less than 16 the rest of the way.
 
 
Series Notes
 
* Eastern has won 15 of the last 19 meetings against Montana State, including a sweep last season with a 71-58 victory in Bozeman and a 74-49 triumph in Cheney to contribute to EWU's current five-game winning streak in the series. The year prior in the 2018-19 season, Eastern won two of three games – a 90-84 victory in the Big Sky Conference Tournament quarterfinals, a 74-66 loss in Bozeman and an 85-81 victory in Cheney. Eastern has won 26 of the last 39, and is 13-3 at home in that span. Eastern, in fact, has not lost to the Bobcats at Reese Court since a 60-56 Bobcat win on Feb. 24, 2011 for an eight-game winning streak. The Eagles are 46-46 all-time against MSU, including a 38-37 record as a member of NCAA Division I (24-12 in Cheney, 13-25 in Bozeman, 1-0 on neutral courts). The records include two MSU forfeits in the 1993-94 season.
 
 
More Game Notes
 
* Eastern has now averaged 85.9 points per game during its current seven-game winning streak, while allowing 71.4 for an average winning margin of 14.4 points per game. In the second half alone, Eastern is outscoring opponents by just over 10 per game – 48.1 points to 37.9. During the streak, EWU has out-shot opponents 50.5 percent to 42.5 percent overall, and 40.2 percent to 34.4 percent from the 3-point stripe, and EWU has made 84.3 percent from the free throw line. Eastern also has a plus 7.3 rebounding margin in those games, averaging 37.1 per game. The Eagles are 7-0 this season when they out-rebound their opponent, and 6-1 when they have at least 36 boards.
 
* The Eagles, 10-6 overall and with a seven-game winning streak, are on the roll they had 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.
 
 
On the Horizon
 
* Montana will visit Eastern on Feb. 18 in a game that starts at 6:05 p.m. Pacific time at Reese Court in Cheney, Wash. The two rivals will play again two days later (Feb. 20) in Missoula in a game that will begin at 11:05 a.m. Pacific time. Former Montana player Travis DeCuire is in his seventh season as head coach of the Grizzlies, and his team is 9-9 overall this season and 7-6 in the Big Sky after a Feb. 11 home win over Weber State. Kyle Owens, a 6-foot-8 sophomore forward, leads Montana with averages of 11.6 points and 5.9 rebounds per game entering the week. Freshman guard Brandon Whitney is averaging 11.2 points, 1.8 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game, while 6-10 senior forward Michael Steadman adds 10.4 points and 5.7 boards per game.
 
 
More Comments from Head Coach Shantay Legans
 
On Keys to Win: "I thought they would come out and pressure us, but we handled it. We had 12 turnovers and that's a little too much, but at the same time we did a good job of turning them over too (14). But rebounding and handling their pressure were the two most important factors, with rebounding being the first."
 
On Kim Aiken Jr.: "Kim was amazing on the boards. That's the Kim Aiken we have come to know and we've seen in the past. When he plays like that he's one of the top three players in the league. He goes to the boards, defends, rebounds, blocks shots, he's hitting threes and he's leading our team. He's really hard to guard and hard to play against."
 
On Getting Chance to Play all 12 Players Available: "Everybody who played stepped up and made key plays for us. It's fun to see players who haven't received a lot of playing time get a chance to see the court. It's great to see everybody go out there and play and get cheered on by their teammates."