Home court does truly give a team an advantage as Eastern Washington men's basketball defeated North Dakota State, 78-70 on Saturday (Dec. 3) afternoon. The home court benefited no one more than Steele Venters, who posted a career-high, 33 points against the Bison. Eagle fans were treated, in the team's first true home game of the season, to watch Venters put on a performance and finish shooting 14-of-19(73.6%) in the game. Eastern improves to 3-5 on the season and North Dakota St. drops to 1-8. 

"My mindset coming into this game is to just be aggressive and get into the paint. Everything opened up from there," Venters said. "My teammates did a great job getting me the ball. I think once I get to the paint and see the ball go in, it makes it easier to get into a rhythm."

"When [Venters] is aggressive, and it shows when he gets to the rim and defensively when he gets blocks; that is when he shoots his best and he gets going," head coach David Riley explained. "It's a mindset from him and I see that every day in practice. He does some jaw-dropping stuff. I have to do a better job early in the game to get him to the rim and assert that aggressiveness."

Along with Venters, Cedric Coward provided big minutes off the bench, scoring 12 points and pulling down seven rebounds, both of which are career-highs for the sophomore.

The shots fell early for both teams, as they combined to make four of the first five attempts. Steele Venters started hot, going 3-of-3 from the floor. The teams were tied at 10 after the first media timeout with 15:22 on the clock. The score would stay tight, but Venters had his shot working in the game. He scored five-straight points for the Eagles, and they had a 24-17 lead over the Bison. Cedric Coward came off the bench and scored four-straight points for the Eagles and extend the lead to 28-19 at 8:13 left in the half. Deon Stroud would push the lead to 31-19 on a dunk, off the pass from Tyreese Davis. NDSU would get back in the game with an 8-0 run cut the lead to a one possession game. Eastern continued to score, but the Bison responded each time. At the half, Eastern held a 38-35 lead, shooting 51.6 percent from the floor. NDSU went into the half with a 46.7 shooting percentage.

Venters opened the scoring for Eastern in the second half, converting a layup off a Bison turnover. A dunk from Casey Jones would increase the Eagles' advantage to 44-37 at the 16:09 mark. Eastern continued to keep its cushion, leading 50-42 behind a dunk from Venters. The lead would grow to nine at 53-44 on made three-pointer by Angelo Allegri. NDSU then turned on its shooting, going on an 10-0 run to pull ahead the Eagles with 8:39 left in the game. Venters had the Eastern response, draining the long three to give the team the lead back at 56-54. The redshirt-sophomore would connect again with a turnaround jumper and the lead was back up to four for Eastern. With the lead back, the Eagles began to pull away from NDSU, extending the lead out to 70-59, powered by four points from Davis. The Bison had one more run in them and the closed the deficit to seven points at 72-65, with 1:03 on the clock. Coward and Ethan Price made their free throws down the stretch that helped secure the win for the Eagles.

Eastern won the game, 78-70 behind a 51.6 shooting percentage in the second half. The team shot exactly the same in the first and second halves, along with holding a 30.4 percent mark from three-point range. North Dakota St. shot 45.8 percent for the game overall and 40.0 percent from three.

Key Statistics
Steele Venters posted his first 30-point game of his career, besting his previous career-high of 29 points against Southern Utah in December of 2021. Venters' game was the first 30-point total for an Eagle since Linton Acliese III scored 38 against Montana State in February of 2022. His 33 points are tied for the 50^th best single game performance in program history.

Eastern forced 17 North Dakota St. turnovers, while only having 10 of its own. The Eagles scored 18 points off of turnovers.

Despite being out-rebounded in the game (31-34), Eastern won the battle in the paint with a 40 to 24 scoring advantage. Casey Jones led the team with eight rebounds. Five of Cedric Coward's seven rebounds were on offense.

The Eagles matched its season-high with five blocks, with Venters and Dane Erikstrup both recording two in the game. Erikstrup's two blocks were the first of his career at Eastern.

Additional Comments from Coach Riley

On Coward and Jones
"I think Cedric [Coward] and Casey [Jones] have the ability to come into a game and change it with their energy, effort and length. Casey got a lot better this offseason and he's been great for us this year. Cedric has long arms and plays hard. He affects the game in multiple ways."

Up Next
Eastern will begin a three-game road trip next weekend, starting will a game against Cal on Wednesday, Dec. 7 at 7 p.m. Pacific Time.