After all, it was two years since the Eagles played a tournament game in Boise.
 
The Eastern Washington University men's basketball team had a slow start, but got untracked mid-way through the first half as the second-seeded Eagles beat Northern Arizona 66-60 in the quarterfinals of the Big Sky Conference Men's Basketball Championship at the Idaho Central Arena in Boise, Idaho.
 
The Eagles used balance and teamwork to get by the No. 10 seeded Lumberjacks, who had upset No. 7 Portland State the day before. Eastern assisted on 17 of its 22 baskets as four Eagles finished in double figures, including a double-double by league MVP Tanner Groves.
 
"It was our first tournament game in two years and there may have been some nerves involved," said Eastern head coach Shantay Legans. "But I loved the way our team played and the way they played for each other. They gave a great effort."
 
Eastern had an 8-of-9 shooting stretch in the first half to take the lead for good as Eastern picked up the first victory in its opportunity to advance to the NCAA Tournament. The five-minute stretch turned a five-point deficit into an eight-point advantage and EWU led by as many as 12 points in the first half and 11 in the second.
 
Eastern closed out the game by missing its last five field goals and one of its last nine, but the Eagle made 7-of-8 free throws in the final minute to secure the win. Eastern held NAU to 44 percent shooting, including just 4-of-19 from the 3-point stripe (21.1 percent). Eastern sank 8-of-29 3-pointers (28 percent).
 
"We didn't score the ball extremely well this game, but we did a good job of keeping them down," said Legans. "We did a good job guarding the 3-point line. We did everything we could to win this game. It was fun and a great game to get out of the gate – the first one is always the hardest. We have to give NAU a lot of credit because they did a great job tonight."
 
Besides the 15 points and 11 rebounds by Groves, sophomore Tyler Robertson, named the Big Sky's Top Reserve, had a game-high 18. Junior Kim Aiken Jr., a first team All-Big Sky selection, had 12 points and eight rebounds with four 3-pointers, and sophomore Michael Meadows had 11 with five boards. Seven of the eight Eagles who played had assists, led by the five of Robertson and three each by senior Jacob Davison, senior Jack Perry and sophomore Ellis Magnuson.
 
The Eagles advance to the semifinals to play the winner of the Weber State versus Montana game later Thursday evening. Eastern will play in the 7 p.m. Pacific time semifinal on Friday, March 12, and the other semifinal between Southern Utah and Montana State is at 4 p.m. The championship game on Saturday, March 13 is at 5 p.m. on ESPNU.
 
A year ago, Eastern won the league title with a 16-4 mark and were the favorites win the league tourney title. But the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic ceased the season just a few hours prior to EWU taking the court for its Big Sky Tournament quarterfinal opener on March 12, 2020.
 
Eastern won its only previous game in the regular season versus NAU (80-64 on Dec. 19). Eastern finished 12-3 in the league and 13-7 overall, and had won nine-straight games before falling to Idaho State 68-63 on March 3.
 
 
Records
 
* Eastern is now 14-7 overall after finishing 12-3 in the league, and the Eagles have has won 11 of their last 12 games. Eastern had won nine-straight games before falling to Idaho State 68-63 on March 3.
 
* Eastern finished as the Big Sky runner-up after leading the league from Feb. 6 to March 3, and won 10 of its last 11 Big Sky games to finish 12-3 and tied with Weber State. But Southern Utah finished perfect at home and won their last nine games to snag the league title away, while the Wildcats won their last seven.
 
* In the final standings based on winning percentage, Southern Utah was first (12-2, .857), followed by EWU and Weber State (12-3 .800). They were followed by Idaho State and Montana State (both 8-6 .571), Montana (7-9 .438), Portland State and Northern Colorado (both 6-8 .429), Sacramento State (5-9 .357), Northern Arizona (4-10 .286), and Idaho (1-17 .056).
 
 
Top EWU Performers
 
Sophomore Tyler Robertson, selected as the league's Top Reserve, sank all 10 of his free throws and 3-of-7 field goals to finish with 18 points. He came three points from his career high, and his five assists against the Lumberjacks were two from his career high. He also had four rebounds and a steal.
Sophomore Michael Meadows scored nine of his 11 points in the first half as he hit 5-of-10 shots from the field and had five rebounds. He has now scored in double figures in 10-straight games.
Big Sky Conference MVP Tanner Groves had his eighth double-double of the season and 10th of his career with 15 points and 11 rebounds.
First team All-Big Sky selection and Defensive Player of the Year Kim Aiken Jr., scored 12 and had eight rebounds. He hit 4-of-9 3-point shots and also had a pair of steals. The junior has three double-doubles this season, 20 in his career and 24 career double-figure rebounding performances.
Senior Jacob Davison, the preseason Big Sky MVP, had three assists and five points for EWU.
Senior Jack Perry suffered through a 1-of-7 shooting night – missing all five of his 3-point attempts – but did had three assists.
Sophomore Jacob Groves, the younger brother of junior Tanner Groves, had three points and three rebounds. Both Groves brothers are graduates of Shadle Park High School in Spokane, Wash.
 
 
Game Details & Turning Point
 
In the early-going, Eastern had more turnovers (6) than shots (5), but the Lumberjacks were only able to forge a 6-5 lead because of a 2-of-10 shooting start. Meanwhile, EWU also struggled with a 2-of-9 shooting start and fell behind 10-5 before hitting a pair of shots to knot the game at 10.
 
That was part of a 10-2 Eagle spurt that put the Eagles up by three at the 8:48 mark. Eastern enjoyed an 8-of-9 shooting stretch that helped EWU open a 29-19 lead with 5:14 left on a 3-pointer by Davison to cap a run of eight-straight points.
 
Eastern eventually took its biggest lead at 32-20, and led at halftime 37-30. Eastern shot at a 48 percent clip, making 11 of its last 18 shots after a 2-of-9 start. Meadows scored all nine of his points in the hot stretch, in which EWU turned a 10-5 deficit into a 26-18 lead.
 
Robertson had 12 at intermission, and EWU led by 10 on four occasions and 11 twice through the first 12 minutes of the second half. A rebound basket by Tanner Groves not only gave him a double-double for the game, but also put EWU up 59-50 with 4:13 left. Eastern didn't score again from the field, but iced the game by making 7-of-9 free throws in the final 59 seconds. Robertson sank four of them.
 
 
Series Notes
 
* Eastern has now won 17 of the last 20 versus Northern Arizona and has an eight-game winning streak, moving ahead in the all-time series versus NAU 39-37 (13-24 in Flagstaff, 23-12 in Cheney, 3-1 neutral). Eastern has won the last nine meetings in Cheney dating back to a 73-69 loss on Jan. 15, 2010. The Eagles have won four of the last five in Flagstaff, and haven't lost there since March 4, 2017, in a 76-61 loss. The only meeting before Eastern became a member of NCAA Division I was an 84-80 NAU victory on Dec. 20, 1969, in Fresno, Calif. Eastern is now 4-1 in the Big Sky Conference Tournament versus NAU, winning 74-52 in the 2016 first round; 71-59 in the 2004 championship game in Cheney; and 58-53 in the 2001 semifinals. Eastern also fell 82-65 in the 2000 semifinals in Missoula, and, most recently, 66-60 in Boise in 2021.
 
* Eastern is making its 18th Big Sky Conference Tournament appearance in 33 years as a member of the league, and has a record of 18-15 in its 33 games. The Eagles are 7-5 all-time in the quarterfinals, and went on to win tourney titles in 2004 and 2015 to advance to the NCAA Tournament. Eastern is 8-4 in the semifinals and 2-6 in the championship.
 
 
 
More Game Notes
 
* Thanks to a foul-fest in the first two games, the Eagle-Lumberjack match-up started an hour later than scheduled. There were 42 fouls and 63 free throws in the first game, a 91-83 victory for top-seeded Southern Utah over Northern Colorado. The next game had even higher totals with 55 fouls and 71 free throws as Montana State beat Idaho State 71-63.
 
* Eastern finished as the Big Sky runner-up after leading the league from Feb. 6 to March 3, and won 10 of its last 11 games to finish 12-3 and tied with Weber State. Eastern won its 12 league games by an average winning margin of 14.2 points per game, and its lone league losses were by a total of 12 points (5 twice, 2). Overall entering the postseason, Eastern lost to Oregon by 17, but the Eagles lost their other six other games by an average margin of just 3.8 points (5 three times, 3 twice, 2).
 
* Eastern head coach Shantay Legans is one of 25 finalists for the Skip Prosser Man of the Year Award which goes to a coach who not only achieves success on the court but who displays moral integrity off the floor as well. He is also among the 25 finalists for the Ben Jobe Award presented to the top NCAA Division I minority coach. Both awards will be announced on April 1. Legans, the 2019-20 Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year, is No. 4 in winning percentage in the 58-year history of the Big Sky Conference – second among those who coached at least four seasons. After the conclusion of the league slate, he's 53-20 in four seasons for a percentage of .726. He only ranks behind Phil Johnson (Weber State 1968-71, .886, 39-5), Kermit Davis (Idaho 1989-90, .813, 26-6) and Dick Motta (Weber State, 1963-68, .727, 40-15), and is ahead of Travis DeCuire (Montana 2014-present, .719, 92-36) and Ron Abegglen (Weber State, 1991-99, .717, 86-34). His four-year total of 53 league victories is the best all-time at EWU in 34 seasons in the Big Sky.
 
* Eastern headed to Boise with a late-season starting lineup that consisted of two juniors and three sophomores. The team's lone seniors -- Jacob Davison and Jack Perry – started Eastern's final regular season game on March 5 in a 75-62 home win over Idaho State, and had 18 and 11 points, respectively. Through the Northern Arizona game, 10 different Eagles have combined for 79 double-figure scoring performances, and three players have combined for 12 double-doubles.
 
 
On the Horizon
 
Weber State, the No. 3 seed, closes the quarterfinals at 7 p.m. Pacific time against No. 6 Montana. Eastern would play in the 7 p.m. Pacific time semifinal on Friday, March 12, and the other semifinal between Southern Utah and Montana State is at 4 p.m. The championship game on Saturday, March 13 is at 5 p.m. on ESPNU.
 
* All preliminary games in the tournament will be on PlutoTV channel 1050, as well as via https://bigskyconf.com/watchbigsky. The championship game will be aired on ESPNU. Eastern games are also aired live on radio on 700-AM ESPN, 105.3-FM, via the web at tunein.com and via mobile phone app, with pre-game coverage starting a half-hour prior to tipoff. Larry Weir serves as the play-by-play broadcaster.
 
 
More Comments from Head Coach Shantay Legans
 
On Performance Versus NAU: "We had some looks and missed some shots we've been making. Tyler Robertson stepped up and had a good game and hit some big free throws. To win games like this, especially in a tournament, you need to make your free throws and get defensive rebounds. We did a good job of rotating, defending and doing a good job of not fouling. Lately we've fouling a lot and putting opponents on the free throw line, but tonight we did a better job of doing that. I know our players were battling and doing everything they could do to win that game."
 
On Playing Versus Zone: "We just have to be smart when we play against the zone. We have to take smart shots – tonight we kind of rushed it. We'll be better, I can promise you that. I hope we see it in the semifinals because we can shoot teams out of it."
 
On Weber State-Montana Game: "We hope it goes six overtimes and they stay up past midnight because some of these games are going kind of late -- hopefully they have some dead legs. You have two of the great coaches in this league in that game, and the basketball tradition is these programs is huge. It's weird to see this matchup in the quarterfinals and not in the semifinals, but this has been a wild year. These are the two programs all the teams in the Big Sky are chasing. We want to be mentioned with those teams – and to get what they've achieved you have to win a lot of games."