Eastern Washington men's basketball played in their home-away-from-home Monday night (Nov. 21) as they faced Washington State in the Spokane Arena. The Cougars had their shooters going and defeated Eastern, 82-56. The Eagles are now 1-4 on the season and Washington St. improves to 2-2.

Steele Venters was back to his old form, scoring 20 points and shooting 5-of-7(71.4%) from three and 7-of-15(46.7%) overall. Ethan Price added 11 points on five rebounds, with one block.

"I think Washington State did some good things defensively. That is one of the best defensive teams in the country even though the numbers might not show that," head coach David Riley said. "At the same time, in the first couple of games in Hawaii, we missed bad shots. Today we did get good shots. They have a lot of length that might have bothered our guys. Their defense played well. But we had good looks, and we took a step forward as a team. We have to learn and get better. We have figured a piece out in cutting down our turnovers. Every year I've been an Eastern, our blueprint for success is take a step each game and by the time February and March come around, we are playing our best basketball."

After Washington St. opened with a 6-0 run, Venters drained a three-pointer for Eastern's first points of the game. Tyreese Davis would then tie the game at seven after getting his own rebound. The Cougars then pulled ahead 14-9 with a three pointer to get early separation. The lead turned into a 12-0 run by Washington St. over a three-minute stretch. Ethan Price ended the run with a three-pointer and Eastern trailed 12-23 with 10:28 on the clock. The Cougars continued to maintain a double-digit lead throughout the first half, leading by as much as 19. They were up 36-17 on the Eagles with 1:35 left in the half. As time expired in the half, Eastern trailed 21-36. The Eagles did close the half with four free throws from Cedric Coward and Casey Jones. Eastern was 6-of-29(20.7%) from the floor in the first half, going 2-of-15(13.3%) from three-point range.

Deon Stroud opened the second half with a dunk and Price went to work in the paint to convert a layup. The Cougars would connect with two-straight, three-pointers to cut off any momentum Eastern was trying to build. Washington St. would push the lead to 49-29 for the team's largest lead of the game, at that point, with 14:40 on the clock. The Eagles would get back into the game on a second-chance basket from Dale Erikstrup. Venters would then hit a deep three and Eastern cut the lead to 49-34. The pace of the game picked up and both teams found their stroke from the floor. Venters stayed aggressive with five points to try and match the Washington St. shooters. Washington St. held a 72-52 lead with 6:03 left on the clock, despite a dunk from Coward. The Cougars won the game 82-56 behind 59.3 percent shooting in the second half. Eastern improved in its shot selection, shooting 40.6 percent in the half.

For the game, Eastern had a 31.1 percentage from the floor. Washington State finished at 48.4 shooting.

Key Statistics
Eastern Washington out-rebounded the Cougars, 40 to 38. Tyreese Davis led the team with seven, with Ethan Price and Dane Erikstrup each adding five.

Steele Venters now has seven career games with five or more made three-point shots. He now has 12 games with 20 or more points scored in his career.

The Eagles were narrowly edged in the paint, as Washington St. scored 30 points to 26 from Eastern.

Cedric Coward scored eight points on 3-of-5(60%) shooting and grabbed four rebounds.

Washington State was 15-of-30(50%) from three-point range.

Up Next
Eastern Washington will travel to play in the Florida International Tournament this weekend. Eastern will play Stony Brook on Friday, Nov. 25 at 2:30 p.m. and Florida International on Sunday, Nov. 27 at 3 p.m.