The Eastern Washington University men's basketball team lost its final road game to Sacramento State tonight (Feb. 26) by a score of 81-75 in Sacramento, Calif. The game featured 13 lead changes and six ties.
 
With the loss, Eastern Washington falls to 15-14 overall and 9-9 in Big Sky Conference play. Sacramento State improves to 9-16 and 5-13.
 
Four Eagles scored in double figures, led by Ethan Price with 18 points and Rylan Bergersen with 17 points and eight rebounds.

"Sacramento State hit some big shots and hit some big threes down the stretch against us. Again, the story of some of our losses has been the two-point percentage. Today in the second half, they went 11-for-18 from two-point range and that's going to get you beat when you aren't protecting the rim. You can survive some hot shooting nights and we just didn't do that," said head coach David Riley. "We have to be more consistent and there are some other controllables that go into this game, like us missing 10 free throws and a few front ends. We also should've moved the ball better. At the end of the day, when you score 75 points in a slow-paced game, you should come out with a win."
 
Eastern Washington started things off with a 5-0 run before Sacramento State responded to tie things up. The Eagles were 5-for-10 from the field in the early goings while holding the Hornets to 3-of-11 and outscoring them in the paint 10-to-2. By the 13-minute mark, Eastern led 14-9.
 
Sacramento State heated up, using a 6-0 run to take an 18-17 lead for its first lead of the game. Eastern Washington would pull back ahead 24-20, just for the Hornets to use another 6-0 run for a 26-24 lead with 6:38 left in the first.
 
A 5-0 run that started with an Angelo Allegri triple put the lead back into EWU's hands 29-26. The game then moved into a 30-30 tie and the Hornets led 35-32 with 43 seconds remaining. Rylan Bergersen then took matters into his own hands, closing the game with five-straight points including a buzzer-beater three-pointer to help the Eagles take a 37-35 lead into the locker room.
 
Eastern Washington shot 54 percent in the first half compared to 41 percent for the Hornets, but Sacramento State made eight triples compared to three for the Eagles. Eastern entered the half out-scoring the Hornets 22-8 in the paint and were plus-six on the boards, 21-15.
 
The Eagles came out and made five of their first six field goal attempts to build their largest lead of 49-42. After Eastern pulled ahead 51-42, the Hornets went on a 9-0 run and kept the Eagles scoreless for five minutes to tie the game 51-51. The run would be 12-2 in all for the Hornets.
 
Eastern Washington had to make a living at the free throw line to stay in the contest down the stretch, as it was held without a field goal for 8:40 of the contest. Linton Acliese III finally snapped the run to retake a 59-58 lead, but the Hornets were right back in it with an 8-0 run for their biggest advantage of 66-59.
 
Sacramento State's run stretched to 12-1, taking a 10-point, 70-60, lead with 3:45 left to play. Down 64-75, the Eagles started to claw back going on 7-0 run to cut the lead down to 75-71 with 45 seconds left to play.
 
Bergersen went to the line and made two attempts, making it a three-point game, but Sacramento State hung on to win 85-71.
 
TOP PERFORMANCES: Ethan Price led the Eagles with 18 points. He was 5-for-9 from the field and 8-for-14 from the free throw line to go with four boards and two assists.
 
Rylan Bergersen scored 17 points, going 6-for-11 from the field with eight rebounds, five assists and a block.
 
Steele Venters followed with 15 points after making 6-for-13 from the field with three triples. He also had five rebounds, four assists and a block.
 
Angelo Allegri added 12 points, going 5-for-10 from the field with two triples. He collected five boards and an assist.
 
Linton Acliese III finished with eight points on 4-for-8 from the field plus eight rebounds, two assists and a steal.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE: Eastern Washington shot 50 percent from the field, making 27-of-54 attempts. The Eagles were held to 7-for-20 (35%) from three-point and were just 14-for-24 (58.3%) from the free throw line.
 
Sacramento State made 13 three-pointers, shooting 44.8 percent from deep. The Hornets were also 29-for-62 (46.8%) from the field and 10-for-13 from the free throw line (76.9%).
 
Eastern Washington committed nine turnovers that Sacramento State turned in to 17 points, while the Hornets turned the ball over just four times for two EWU points. On the boards, EWU held the 38-to-29 advantage and outscored the Hornets 34-to-26.
 
UP NEXT: Eastern Washington returns home one final time next week, hosting Northern Arizona (March 3) and Portland State (March 5). Before Saturday's game against the Vikings, the Eagles will honor seniors Linton Acliese III, Rylan Bergersen and Austin Fadal. Tip-offs are set for 6 p.m. and 2 p.m., respectively.