The 2021-22 season came to a close for the Eastern Washington University men's basketball team tonight (March 17) in the First Round of The Basketball Classic presented by Eracism. The Eagles traveled to Fresno, Calif., to face Mountain West Conference opponent Fresno State at the Save Mart Center. Despite a fast start from behind the three-point line, Eastern Washington lost 83-74.
 
The Eagles end the season, and the first under head coach David Riley, with an 18-16 overall record and 11-9 mark in Big Sky Conference play. Fresno State advances to The Basketball Classic quarterfinals, sitting at 20-13 (8-9 MWC).
 
Both Angelo Allegri and Linton Acliese III met career milestones tonight by joining the 1,000-point club on consecutive possessions. Acliese, playing in his home state of California, finished with 25 points for his 12^th 20-plus point performance of the season. Steele Venters finished with 18 points after making five three-pointers.
 
This marked Eastern's eighth postseason appearance in program history at the Division I level, and the second-straight, now sitting with a 1-8 record in postseason play.
 
"Fresno State is a really good, athletic team that wears you down. Defensively, they bother you and they don't let you get to the paint easily, they stay in front well. Offensively, they get to the paint and rebound, they're a tough team," said head coach David Riley. "This is a tough loss, but there's a lot we got out of this… You can go down the line with our team, everyone got something out of this game. There is so much to be proud of and build off of this game. We had some stretches where we were good offensively, but there were stagnant stretches as well where we turned it over. We have a good offensive team with a lot of weapons that makes us tough to guard."
 
Linton Acliese III got the Eagles off to a hot start after making consecutive three-pointers for an early 6-0 lead. The Eagles came out and made six of their first eight three-point attempts, as Steele Venters and Angelo Allegri also joined in from three-point range early. At the 16:15 mark, Eastern led 14-7.
 
Fresno State tied the contest 14-14 after a 7-0 run but the Eagles were not out of the game. Acliese and Allegri combined for an 8-0 run to create some distance with a 22-14 lead, the largest of the night for EWU. During the run, Allegri made his second three-pointer to eclipse the career 1,000-point mark, and on the next possession Acliese made a layup for his 1,000^th-career point to join him.
 
The Eagles held a 25-22 lead when the Bulldogs made back-to-back jumpers for their first lead of the game, 26-25, with 8:15 remaining. It was back-and-forth from there until a momentum shift after EWU was called for a flagrant foul. From there, Fresno State exploded on a 13-0 run to pull away 41-29. Eastern was held scoreless for over five minutes, and after making their first six out of eight three-point attempts, the Eagles missed seven-straight.
 
At the half, Eastern Washington trailed 47-33.
 
The second half saw no quit from Eastern Washington, as the Eagles outscored the Bulldogs 41 to 36. Venters entered the final 20 minutes by scoring six-straight points. Another three-pointer from Venters was followed by four-straight from Acliese for a 7-0 run, trimming the deficit back down to single digits at 54-48.
 
Fresno State would run away and led by as many 18 points, 82-64, which was trimmed down to nine at the end of the game. Eastern Washington buckled down and held the Bulldogs without a field goal for 5:53 down the stretch and ended the contest on a 7-0 run.
 
Seventy-four points for the Eagles is well above Fresno State's opponent scoring defense of 58.5. The Bulldogs had only allowed an opponent to score over 70 points one other time this season in Nevada who scored 77.
 
"The first thing that comes to mind is fun," said Riley when asked about his first season as head coach. "I had fun with this group every single day. I think that was something I made a priority. It was fun, and a whirlwind. I knew it was going to be crazy and be hectic, especially when we lost all of our players and had to hire a new staff. There was so much going on every day, but I just made sure that we're playing a game and these are college kids – if they're having fun and enjoying it, they're going to work that much harder and I'm going to work harder. We made a really big effort to enjoy the moment and enjoy every day. Take the losses, take the tough days, and just build on them and have fun doing it. We had a great group of guys."
 
TOP PERFORMANCES: Linton Acliese III fouled out with five minutes left to play in his final game in an Eastern Washington uniform, but not before he scored 25 points on 9-for-15 from the field to eclipse over 1,000 points in his career. He was also 3-for-7 from three-point range and 4-for-4 from the free throw line. Acliese added four rebounds, an assist and a block as well.
 
Steele Venters was the other in double figures, scoring 18 on 6-for-14 from the field and 5-for-10 from three-point range. He was also 1-for-1 from the charity stripe. Additionally, Venters ends the season 14^th on EWU's single-season scoring list with 550 points and eighth on the single-season three-point list with 86. Tonight, he led the team with four assists, plus added five rebounds and a steal.
 
Angelo Allegri, who also joined the 1,000-point club tonight, finished with eight points. He was 3-for-5 from the field and 2-for-3 from three-point range. He ends the year ninth on EWU's single-season three-point list with 77. He grabbed six rebounds, plus recorded a block and a steal.
 
Ethan Price finished with seven points, six rebounds, three assists and a steal. Casey Jones recorded the other block for EWU, and Imhotep George led the team with two steals while grabbing five rebounds and scored three points via a three-pointer. Rylan Bergersen added eight points, four assists and a steal in his final game for Eastern Washington.
 
KEY STATISTICS: Both teams shot 47 percent from the field on the night, with Fresno State making 28-of-59 and Eastern Washington making 26-of-55. From three-point range, the Eagles made 12-for-29 while the Bulldogs were 7-for-26. Fresno State had the edge at the free throw line, 20-28, compared to 10-for-13 for EWU.
 
Eastern Washington committed 17 turnovers that were turned into 21 points. They forced nine, and were out-rebounded 36-to-31. In the paint, EWU was outscored 38-to-24.