Eastern Washington men's basketball was on the court for the second part of its three-game road trip against South Dakota State. The Eagles fell to the Jackrabbits, 77-76, on Saturday (Dec. 10) in Brookings, S.D. Eastern's record is now 4-6 and SDSU improved to 4-7 this season.

In the game, the Eagles had five players score in double figures, led by Ethan Price's 16 on 6-of-9(66.7%) shooting. Casey Jones scored a career-high 15 points on 5-of-9(55.6%).

"We have taken big steps from where we were after the Hawaii and Washington State games. We are playing better basketball now and we have to look at this as the next step in learning. Now we have to close out games and execute when it matters," head coach David Riley said. "It was a tough 12-13 minutes to end the game and we have to learn from it. We did not close out the game the way we needed to. We played a little too slow offensively. Rebounding is something we did an incredible job at in this game."

After the Jackrabbits scored the first four points of the game, Eastern countered with a 7-0 run to take the lead. The Eagles would hold SDSU at arm's length, extending the lead out to 17-10 at the 15:12 mark in the first half. The lead expanded to 10 points at 25-15, behind a three from Angelo Allegri. Price would connect from three, followed quickly by a layup from Steele Venters for a 13-point advantage. The lead would grow to as much as 14 in the first half, as Price had his inside-outside game working against the Jackrabbits. Eastern led 41-29 at halftime and was shooting 45.5 percent. SDSU had a 36.7 percent shooting mark in the half.

Moving into the second half, the Eagles continued to hold a double-digit lead over the Jackrabbits. Jones found space in the paint to score a layup, before he would step back behind the arc and hit a three-pointer. Eastern's lead was up to 15 points at 48-33 and 16:50 on the clock. From the floor, the shots were falling for the Eagles and their lead ballooned to 61-38 with 12:27 left in the game. Tyreese Davis found space in the paint for a pair of layups and Price continued to score well. Cedric Coward got involved in the scoring with two made three-pointers and the team's lead stayed at 23, as Eastern was up 69-46 with 8:51 left in the game. The Jackrabbits showed life with a 7-0 run over a minute-and-a-half length to cut into the lead. Following a made field goal from Venters, SDSU put together another 7-0 burst and the lead was down to 71-60 with 4:46 left to play. A three from Jones seemed to stop the momentum, but the Jackrabbits hit back with an 8-0 run this time. With 2:08 on the clock, Eastern's lead was down to 74-68. Davis would bring the lead back to eight with another layup, but it was the last points Eastern would score in the game. SDSU organized a 9-0 run to pull ahead with two seconds left in the game.

The Eagles could not get the game-winning shot to fall, and the Jackrabbits won the game, 77-76. Eastern shot 44.8 percent for the game and SDSU had a 47.2 shooting percentage.

Key Statistics
Steele Venters scored 13 points for his 33^rd career double-digit scoring game. Angelo Allegri had 10 points for his 28^th game in double figures. Tyreese Davis finished with 10 points. Ethan Price's 16 points was a season-high for the sophomore.

Eastern outrebounded South Dakota St., 40 to 26. They had a 30 to 18 scoring advantage in the paint. The Eagles grabbed 14 offensive rebounds and scored 14 points on second chance opportunities. Casey Jones nearly had another double-double with nine rebounds.

In the game, Eastern had 11 turnovers, while the Jackrabbits had nine.

Angelo Allegri posted a career-high, five assists in the game. 

SDSU's Zeke Mayo scored 30 points and was 5-of-10(50%) from three-point range.

Up Next
Eastern Washington will complete its road trip against Texas Tech on Tuesday, Dec. 13 with tipoff scheduled for 5 p.m. Pacific Time.