Behind the early work of seniors Jacob Davison and Jack Perry, the Eagles scored like gangbusters once again.
 
The Eastern Washington University men's basketball team more than doubled its second-half output from two days earlier, and the Eagles used a fast start to beat Idaho State 75-62 on Friday (March 5) in the Big Sky Conference regular season finale for both teams at Reese Court in Cheney, Wash.
 
Eastern's two seniors earned starts in the regular season finale for EWU at Reese Court, and they responded with 21 of EWU's 47 first-half points. Davison, the preseason MVP of the league, finished with 18 and Perry had 11 as Eastern led by as many as 21 in the first half, and by as many as 23 in the second half to avenge a 68-63 loss two days earlier to the Bengals in which EWU scored just 26 after intermission.
 
That loss, in which ISU scored the game's last 12 points after EWU had a seven-point lead with 3:29 left, damaged EWU's hopes at repeating as Big Sky regular season champs, but the Eagles still remain alive heading into the final day of league action on Saturday.
 
Eastern honored Davison and Perry in pre-game ceremonies, including recorded messages from their families. They've now combined for 212 games as both rank in the top 23 in school history for games played. Davison has scored 1,348 points to move up one notch to 10th in school history and Perry has 148 3-pointers to rank 11th all-time at Eastern, with his career 41.7 percent accuracy ranking 10th.
 
 "They had those kind of games in them," said Eastern head coach Shantay Legans, who inserted both into the starting lineup. "They earned that right and I'm looking forward to seeing what they can do down the road. Now teams have to worry about Jacob Davison again. He came in and played the right way and did the right things – he defended and played well. We get excited when we see people play that way, and we get excited when they play tough like that."
 
Sophomore Tyler Robertson scored 13 points and sophomore Michael Meadows had 11 in the rematch for EWU, which out-shot ISU 44 percent to 33 percent in the game. Big Sky MVP candidate Tanner Groves was the fifth Eagle in double figures with 10, but fouled out with 4:34 to play after playing just 18 minutes. Junior Kim Aiken Jr. finished with 14 rebounds, four points, three assists and three blocked shots.
 
With winning percentage determining this year's league champion, Eastern is currently at .800 (12-3), tied for second. After their wins on Feb. 4, Southern Utah is at .846 (11-2) and the Wildcats are at .800 (12-3). Thus, Eastern would need both SUU and WSU to lose Saturday (Feb. 6) versus Portland State and Northern Colorado, respectively, for EWU to defend its regular season league title. Southern Utah has eight-straight victories and Weber State six heading into those games.
 
This week's games were a classic match-up of offense versus defense. In league-only games entering the week, Eastern was averaging 85.1 points to lead the Big Sky, and ISU was tops in scoring defense at 61.7 per game. However, the Eagles entered the series with a balanced attack during a season in which nine different Eagles have combined for 64 double-figure scoring performances, and three players have combined for 13 double-doubles.
 
Overall, entering Wednesday's game Idaho State was seventh in NCAA Division I in scoring defense (60.6) and EWU was 23rd in offense (80.4). After the game, ISU was ranked eighth (60.7) in defense and EWU was 29th in offense (79.5).
 
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
 
* Eastern is now 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.
 
* Idaho State fell to fifth in the league standings, and is currently 8-6 in the Big Sky Conference and 13-10 overall.
 
* Through Friday's games, Southern Utah leads at (11-2, .833), followed by EWU and Weber State (12-3 .800), Montana State (8-5 .615) and Idaho State (8-6 .571). They are followed by Portland State (6-7 .462), Montana (7-9 .438), Northern Colorado (6-8 .429), Sacramento State (4-9), Northern Arizona (4-10), and Idaho (1-17).
 
 
Top EWU Performers
 
Senior Jacob Davison, the preseason Big Sky MVP, had his first double-figure scoring performance since Feb. 1 when he had 14 versus Sacramento State. It was his high since scoring 31 – fourth-best of his career – on Jan. 16 versus Southern Utah.
Sophomore Tyler Robertson finished with 13 points, hitting 4-of-11 shots overall and 3-of-4 free throws.
Senior Jack Perry had 11 points, scoring in double figures for the first time this season as he made 4-of-6 shots from the field. It was the first time he's been in double figures in 25 games and the most since he scored 13 versus Northern Arizona on Feb. 22, 2020. He sank 3-of-4 3-pointers, and matched his season-high of nine points in the first half alone.
Sophomore Michael Meadows finished with 11 points and a pair of assists with three rebounds. He has now scored in double figures in nine-straight games.
Junior Tanner Groves fouled out after scoring 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting and grabbing three rebounds in just 18 minutes of action. He has nine double-doubles in his career and seven this season.
Junior Kim Aiken Jr., a preseason All-Big Sky selection, made just 1-of-8 shots to finish with four points, but contributed a season-high 14 rebounds, three assists and three blocked shots. He has three double-doubles this season, 20 in his career and 24 career double-figure rebounding performances
Sophomore Jacob Groves, the younger brother of junior Tanner Groves, chipped in six points, four rebounds and a pair of assists. Both Groves brothers are graduates of Shadle Park High School in Spokane, Wash.
 
 
Game Details & Turning Point
 
Eastern's two seniors ignited an early 11-0 run, as the Eagles took an 11-2 lead thanks to six points by Davison and a 3-pointer by Perry. Eastern continued to pour it on, taking leads of 16-3, 21-8 and 23-13.
 
An 8-0 run – fueled by 3-pointers by Perry and Robertson – led to a 19-point EWU lead at 31-12 with 8:45 left. Eastern held ISU to 2:40 without scoring after the earlier 3:32 scoreless stretch early in the contest.
 
The Bengals cut the lead to 13, but ISU went without a field goal for two minutes and EWU went on a 9-2 run to go back up by 21. Perry and Davison both hit 3-pointers in the run and EWU led at halftime 47-32.
 
At intermission, Davison scored 12 points and Perry had nine as the Eagles sank a sizzling 60 percent of their shots, including stretches of three, four and five makes in a row. At one point, the Eagles were 12-of-15 (.800).
 
In the second half, Eastern took its biggest lead of the night at 55-32 with 17:18 on a basket by Davison. The Eagles led by 18 with 7:03 left before ISU scored eight unanswered points to cut the lead to 10. But Eastern used a 5-0 run in the last 3:05 to put the game away.
 
 
Series Notes
 
* Eastern is now 50-31 all-time against ISU, including a 47-30 record since becoming a member of NCAA Division I in the 1983-84 season (16-20 on the road, 30-9 at home, 1-1 at neutral sites). The Eagles have won 18 of the last 22 meetings overall and seven of the last nine. Eastern split versus ISU in the 2019-20 season, losing 74-71 in Pocatello and winning 100-77 in Cheney to capture at least a share of the Big Sky title. That loss snapped EWU's five-game winning streak in the series, and a four-game streak in Pocatello. The last time EWU had lost to the Bengals was on March 3, 2016, by a 75-71 score in Cheney. Eastern has won 15 of the last 17 at Reese Court, with the lone loss since 2003 coming on March 3, 2016, when EWU was upset by ISU 75-71 at Reese Court. Eastern had won 65-57 at home in the 2014-15 season, extending EWU's home winning streak versus ISU to 13 games dating back to a 65-63 loss on March 1, 2003. Eastern had an overall eight-game winning streak snapped in 2013-14 when the Bengals prevailed 72-83 in Pocatello.
 
 
More Game Notes
 
* Eastern averaged 86.8 points per game during its recently-ended nine-game winning streak, while allowing 72.4 for an average winning margin of 14.3 points per game. During the streak, EWU out-shot opponents 50.7 percent to 42.5 percent overall, and 42.0 percent to 35.1 percent from the 3-point stripe, and made 83.8 percent from the free throw line. Eastern also had a plus 5.8 rebounding margin in those games, averaging 36.4 per game. The Eagles are 8-0 this season when they out-rebound their opponent, and 7-1 when they have at least 36 boards.
 
* Until falling to Idaho State on March 3, Eastern had won nine-straight games and hadn't tasted defeat since losing at Northern Colorado on Jan. 21. The nine-game winning streak is now in sole possession of second-best in Eastern's NCAA Division I history, and is one of 12 the Eagles have had of six-straight or more since moving to D-I in the 1983-84 season. The record is 11 set by the 2003-04 Eastern team which advanced to the NCAA Tournament that season.
 
* Eastern has won at least 10 league games for the eighth-straight season. That only happened six times before in EWU's first 30 seasons as a member of NCAA Division I. Eastern's 53 league victories in the last four seasons – all under head coach Shantay Legans -- is the best four-year stretch in EWU's 37-year history in the league.
 
* Shantay Legans, the reigning 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 ISU games, 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).
 
* The Eagles, 13-7 overall and with winners of 10 of their last 11 games, 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
 
* The Eagles will travel to Boise, Idaho, next week to play in the Big Sky Conference Men's Basketball Championship at Idaho Central Arena. 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.
 
* With Eastern assured of no worse than a No.3 seed, the top five seeds receive a bye to the quarterfinal round. Three games take place on Wednesday, March 10 – No. 8 versus No. 9, No. 7 versus No. 10 and No. 6 versus No. 11. If Eastern was to secure the No. 1 seed as it did a year ago, the Eagles would open games on Thursday, March 11 at 10 a.m. Pacific time versus the winner of the #8/#9 game. The No. 2 seed plays at 4 p.m. Pacific time against the #7/#10 winner, and the No. 3 seed plays at 7 p.m. Pacific time against the #6/#11 winner. Semifinal games are scheduled for 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. Pacific time, and the championship game on Saturday, March 13 is at 5 p.m. on ESPNU.
 
 
 
More Comments from Head Coach Shantay Legans
 
On First Half: "We played great and did a good job defensively. Our defense was pretty good in the second half, but we have to be a little bit better. We had a few breakdowns here and there, but we'll get ready for the tournament and be ready defensively and offensively."
 
On Jacob Davison: "We all know how good Jacob can be. We want consistency from him on the defensive end, and he gave that to us today. He did a very good job, was battling and he was keeping guys in front of him. He's another good defender we can put out there. There's a reason why our defense was good, and he had a lot to do with it."
 
On Idaho State: "They do a good job with that style and it's tough to play against. They really slowed the game down in the second half and they did a great job of being really physical and getting on the offensive boards. They are a very tough team, and we have be able to match their toughness. We may see them again, and we have to be able to understand what that's going to be like. We have to defend them for 30 seconds and not take quick shots at the other end. In the end, you have to win a game and our guys did that."
 
On Next Week:  "It's going to be fun going to Boise with our heads up high and going in on a win. But we have to play great and play our best basketball. We've been revving up for that all year long. We are going to have a great week of practice and then head on out."