GAME NOTES vs. MONTANA STATE

After a solid bounce-back win over Idaho State to kick off five-straight road games, the Eastern Washington University men's basketball team continues on to the Treasure State to face Montana State and Montana.
 
The Eagles first face the Bobcats in Bozeman, Mont., on Thursday, Jan. 27. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. Pacific time. A six-game winning streak over MSU is on the line, as EWU beat the Bobcats three times last season, including in the Big Sky Conference title game where Eastern won 65-55 to advance to the NCAA Tournament.
 
Eastern Washington will go for the series split against Montana on Saturday, Jan. 29 in Missoula, Mont., where tip-off is also set for 6 p.m. PT. Back on Jan. 6, the Grizzlies came to Reese Court and walked away with a 90-78 victory. Since then, both teams have dealt with COVID-19 layoffs and have won three out of the last four games each.
 
Both games will be streamed on ESPN+, and Larry Weir will have the call courtside on 700-AM ESPN.
 
A LOOK AT THE EAGLES: Eastern Washington is 11-8 overall and 5-3 in Big Sky Conference games. The Eagles split a pair of home games last week, with a 75-62 win over Sacramento State (Jan. 20) and an 87-83 loss to Northern Colorado (Jan. 22), but had a big bounce back win over Idaho State in Pocatello by a score of 89-63 on Jan. 24.
 
The Eagles average 78.1 points per game, the second-most offensive output in the conference. They lead the conference and rank 35^th in the nation with 16.2 assists per game, totaling 307 to rank 35^th as well. Eastern Washington pulls down 39.2 rebounds per game to rank second in the conference and 40^th nationally, with 744 total boards to rank 53rd. They average 28.74 defensive boards per game which is 16^th in the nation.
 
EWU is also one of the nation's top three-point shooting teams, firing off 171 total this year to rank 51st in the NCAA. Eastern also has a stifling three-point defense, only allowing opponents to shoot 30.7 percent behind the arc to rank first in the conference and 66^th nationally. Eastern Washington ranks 53^rd in the NCAA and second in the Big Sky with 9.0 three-pointers per game. The squad has made double-digit triples in three out of the last four games, with season highs of 14 against Idaho and 13 against Idaho State.
 
The Eagles are also solid at the free throw line, ranking eighth nationally in with 315 free throws made and 13^th with 46 attempts. EWU makes 75.7 percent of its attempts to rank 41^st in the country.
 
Eastern is 3-0 this season when scoring 90 or more points, and 4-0 when shooting between 50-to-60 percent from the field.
 
Eastern Washington boasts four players who average double figures, three of which rank in the top-10 in the Big Sky. Steele Venters (4th, 18.1 ppg) leads the way, followed by Linton Acliese III (7^th, 15.4 ppg) and Rylan Bergersen (10th, 13.9 ppg). Angelo Allegri rounds out the offense with 11.2 points per game. Four Eagles also rank in the top 20 in the conference in rebounding in Acliese (7^th, 6.9 rpg), Allegri (11^th, 6.4 rpg), Bergersen (16^5h, 5.3 rpg), and Ethan Price (20^th, 4.9).
 
YOU CAN CALL HIM BOOGIE: Linton Acliese III or "Boogie" was honored on Jan. 4 with the ROAR Organic Big Sky Player of the Week nod after leading Eastern to two Big Sky road wins at Portland State and Northern Arizona. It was the first Player of the Week nod for the program this season.
 
Acliese started the week with a 15-point output against the Vikings where he made 7-of-16 from the field to go with seven rebounds and two assists, helping EWU win 63-58.
 
Less than 48 hours later at Northern Arizona, he followed up with his best game as an Eagle thus far by scoring 30 points. He achieved his new career-high by making 13-of-17 from the field, 2-of-3 from three-point range, and a perfect 2-for-2 from the free throw line. Acliese also pulled down 11 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season. He dished three assists and had a block in the 78-65 victory, which marked Eastern's ninth-straight win over Northern Arizona. The performance was the first 30-point output of Acliese's career with the Eagles, and his fourth with at least 20 points.
 
Over the two games, Acliese shot 60.6 percent (20-33) from the field, plus made three three-pointers and made both free throw attempts. He totaled 18 rebounds for an average of nine per game, plus had five total assists and a block while averaging 22.5 points per game.
 
Currently, Acliese ranks seventh in the Big Sky in both points (15.4) and rebounds (6.9) per game. He's scored in double figures in 14 out of the 16 games he has played in, including seven-straight, to go with four double-doubles. He is fifth in the Big Sky in field goal percentage, knocking down 49.7 percent (90-181) of his attempts. Additionally, Acliese is fourth in free throw percentage as well, making 47 of his 54 attempts from the line to shoot 85.5 percent which is 73^rd in the nation. For good measure, he adds 1.3 assists, 0.2 steals and 0.5 blocks per game.
 
STAT SHEET STUFFER: Rylan Bergersen ranks third on the team and 10th in the Big Sky with 13.9 points per game, but there's more to it. He's led the team in assists in 13 games, ranking third in the Big Sky and 84^th in the nation with 4.3 per game. He has 82 assists on the year and has three-or-more assists in every game but two, including at least four in 11. He's third in the conference in assist to turnover ratio with 1.9.
 
Bergersen can rebound, too, ranking third on the team and 15^th in the Big Sky with 5.3 per game. He's pulled down four-or-more rebounds in 15 games. On the defensive side, he's eighth in the conference with 1.5 steals per game, with at least one in every game but three. Last but not least, he ranks 30^th in the nation with 85 free throws made and is 33rd with 109 attempts.
 
In the two games against Sacramento State and Northern Colorado, Bergersen led the team in points, steals and assists. He averaged 20.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 3.0 steals in the contests. He also shot 51.9 percent (14-27) from the field, 60 percent (3-5) from three-point range, and 76.9 percent (10-13) from the free throw line. Against Idaho State, he scored nine points to go with five rebounds and six assists.
 
VENTERS IS EFFICIENT: One of the sharpest shooters in the Big Sky, redshirt-freshman Steele Venters leads the team and ranks fourth in the conference with 18.1 points per game. Not only does Venters like to shoot, he does it well, knocking down 49.8 percent from the field to rank fourth in the Big Sky. He leads the league in three-point percentage as well, knocking down 3.0 per game at a clip of 49.1 percent, a mark that ranks fifth in all of Division I. At the free throw line, he ranks third in the conference with a clip of 85.5 percent.
 
Venters has scored in double figures in 15 out of 17 games, including nine games with 20-or-more points. He has scored 20-or-more points in five Big Sky games, with a career-high 29 against Southern Utah. Venters has made a three-pointer in every game this year, including two or more in 15. He has a career-high six against Southern Utah and followed up with five against Omaha, Colorado, Idaho and Idaho State. Nationally, he ranks fifth in three-point field goal percentage, 37th in three pointers made with 54, 32nd in three-pointers per game, and 63rd in points per game. He is also 71^st in free throw percentage and 74^th with 325 total points.
 
MOVES LIKE GELO: Angelo Allegri has emerged as a steady three-point shooter for Eastern Washington. He knocks down an average of 2.3 triples per game to rank seventh in the Big Sky, and has at least one three-pointer in 17 out of 19 games. Additionally, he's made at least two in 11 games and three-or-more in seven. Against Multnomah on Dec. 15, he made a career-best six. Allegri ranks second on the team with 43 triples total, shooting 37.1 percent from behind the arc and averaging 6.1 attempts per game. He currently averages 11.2 points per game and has scored in double figures 11 times, including a career-best 23 against Multnomah and 21 points against Idaho.
 
He is emerging as one of the team's top-rebounders, too. Against Sacramento State, he earned his first career double-double of 14 points and 14 rebounds, the most boards by an Eagle this season. He has led the team in rebounding in five games, including four out of the last five. He has grabbed at least seven boards in eight out of the last 10 games, including six out of the last seven. Allegri ranks 11^th in the Big Sky with 6.4 per game.
 
ROAD WARRIORS: Of Eastern's 18 games so far this season, 11 have been on the road plus one a neutral site. The road has been kind to the Eagles, though, as they have a record of 7-4 away from Reese Court in true away games. Eastern picked up a gritty overtime win against CSUN on Nov. 19 and upset the Cougars in Pullman on Nov. 27 for signature road victories, and one loss is a 60-57 defeat at Colorado. The Eagles are in the early stages of five-straight road games. It started off on a high note with an 89-63 win over Idaho State on Jan 24. It's now on to Montana State (Jan. 27), Montana (Jan. 29), Weber State (Jan. 31) and Southern Utah (Feb. 5) for the longest road stretch of the year. EWU won't be back at home until Feb. 10 to host Weber State.
 
LAST TIME OUT: The first of five-straight road games ended on a high note for the Eastern Washington University men's basketball team at Idaho State. The Eagles never trailed in the contest, blowing by the Bengals by a score of 89-63. The win marked the third-straight road victory and the seventh overall for the road warrior Eagles.
 
For the fifth time in Big Sky play and the ninth overall, Steele Venters scored over 20 points with a 21-point output. He drained five triples, and was just shy of a double-double with nine rebounds, three assists and two blocks. Angelo Allegri, who scored 17 points and made four three-pointers, plus Linton Acliese III (16 pts) rounded things out for Eastern Washington.
 
The Eagles came out hot, using a 15-0 run to take an early 18-2 lead while holding the Bengals scoreless for over four and a half minutes of play. Four different Eagles scored during the spurt, including Venters who had three early three-pointers. An Ethan Price three-point play made it an 18-3 run overall in just five minutes, giving the Eagles a comfortable 21-5 lead with 13 minutes left to play in the first half. With one second left on the clock, Allegri was fouled shooting a three-pointer and made all three attempts at the line, giving EWU a 52-22 lead at the half.
 
It was all Eastern Washington in the first half, shooting 51.6 percent from the field overall with six three-pointers and a perfect 14-for-14 from the line. Defensively, Eastern held the Bengals to 23.3 percent from the field plus forced eight turnovers.
 
Eastern started the half on a 5-0 run and built a 66-29 lead after Allegri, Rylan Bergersen and Venters each made a three-pointer in just over a minute of play. Allegri drained another and it was off to the races once again with a 69-32 lead. The largest lead of 41 points, 75-34, came after another 6-0 run for Eastern that included the fifth three-pointer for Venters. The Eagles emptied the bench after that, and the closest the Bengals would get would be 26 points down the stretch en route to the 89-63 victory.
 
A LOOK AT THE BOBCATS: The Bobcats rank third in the Big Sky with an overall record of 14-5 and a conference record of 6-2. Montana State has won five-straight over Idaho State, Idaho, Montana, Northern Arizona and Portland State. Its last loss was on Dec. 30 by ten points against Weber State in Bozeman.
 
Montana State has a very balanced offensive attack, with three players in double figures and two that average just over nine per game. Xavier Bishop is the reigning Big Sky Player of the Week, and he adds 13.1 points per game behind Jubrile Belo who adds 13.3 points and 6.6 rebounds per game. Belo shoots 59.7 percent from the field and has 31 total blocks on the year.
 
The Bobcats average 77.5 points per game at a 46.8 percent clip, and hold their opponents to 68.7 points per game. They lead the conference with 3.63 blocks per game.
 
SERIES HISTORY: A six-game winning streak over Montana State is on the line on Thursday night. Eastern won both regular season matchups in Bozeman last season on Feb. 11 and Feb. 13 by scores of 93-77 and 85-69, respectively. More importantly, the Bobcats and the Eagles met in the Big Sky Conference Tournament Championship game where Eastern won 65-55 to advance to the NCAA Tournament.
 
Eastern leads the all-time series by a slight margin, 47-46, including 39-37 in the Division I era. In Bozeman, Eastern is 13-25 all-time but have won three-straight on the road with the last loss coming on Feb. 7, 2019. Also, part of EWU's six-game winning streak over MSU was a Big Sky Tournament Quarterfinal win on March 14, 2019.
 
A LOOK AT THE GRIZZLIES: Montana will play at home for the first time in 26 days on Jan. 27 when it hosts Idaho. At Dahlberg Arena this season, the Grizzlies are a perfect 9-0 and haven't lost at home since February of 2020. Montana went 3-1 on its last road trip, including a win over EWU, and are 13-6 overall and 6-2 in conference play with a two-game win streak.
 
The Grizzlies are a tough defensive team, ranking 29^th in the nation in scoring defense, allowing opponents to average just 62.4 points per game. Montana and Eastern Washington rank first and second in the league in free throw percentage. The leading scorer for the Grizzlies is Josh Bannan who ranks 13^th in the Big Sky with 13.2 points per game.
 
SERIES HISTORY: Since 2014-15, both Eastern Washington and Montana have been the two Big Sky powers, with the Grizzlies picking up 98 wins during that span and the Eagles with 95. They have both combined to win the last three Big Sky tournament championships and three of the past four regular season titles.
 
The Grizzlies lead the all-time series, 72-47, but Eastern has won three out of the last four. After Montana bounced the Eagles in two-straight Big Sky title games, EWU got slight revenge with two regular season wins in Montana last season, and then a victory in the Big Sky semifinals. In Missoula, the Eagles are 11-29 all-time.
 
This season, Montana came to Reese Court on Jan. 6 and left with a 90-78 victory. The Grizzlies opened the first half on a 9-0 run and the second half on a 12-0 run, which wound up being the difference. Fifty-six total fouls were called between the rivals, and four Eagles scored in double figures, led by Linton Acliese III and Rylan Bergersen with 20 points each. Steele Venters (15 pts) and Ethan Price (11 pts) rounded out the scoring. Eastern Washington was also held to a season-low three three-pointers in the loss.
 
UP NEXT: The final leg of the road trip takes place on Monday, Jan. 31 at Weber State. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. Pacific time in Ogden, Utah. The game was originally supposed to take place on Feb. 15 but was postponed due to COVID-19 issues in Eastern's program. Fans can watch the game on ESPN+ or Larry Weir will have the call on 700-AM ESPN.