The win streak grows to seven for Eastern Washington men's basketball after defeating Idaho 95-74 on Saturday night (Jan. 14). Eastern led for the majority of the game and improves to 5-0 in Big Sky games, 11-7 overall.

"I think we have really good big guys in our program. Our team heard all the talk and highlights about [Isaac Jones]. They took that challenge on their own and played him one-on-one. Hat off to Ethan Price, Casey Jones and Dane Erikstrup," head coach David Riley said. "We are starting to understand where guys can get their shots and make plays. There is a lot of freedom in this offense. It takes guys to figure that out. We have all these different options and you can get slowed down early on. Guys are understanding where they can be successful. I'm excited to see the development of these guys. They come into the office and watch film with assistant coaches. Hopefully this trend keeps going up, where we are not turning it over as much and shooting at a high percentage."

The scoring was team affair today, as five Eagles scored in double figures. Angelo Allegri led the team with 18 points on 8-of-11(72.7%) shooting. Tyreese Davis scored 15, Ethan Price had 14, and both Steele Venters and Cedric Coward scored 13.

"I think we really tried to reiterate that the score was 0-0 out of every timeout. I think it helped that we went into halftime not up by 20-plus points," Price said. "We came into the second half trying to build off that. That's the mentality we had during the game. The competitiveness level in practice really helps that we have three or four guys going at each other. We don't go easy on each other at practice. We get to the games and it almost seems easier sometimes."

The team's traded points to open the game, but Eastern would go ahead behind a dunk from Ethan Price, and layups from Angelo Allegri and Steele Venters. Eastern led 10-5 at 14:50 on the clock. They would extend the lead to 15-7 behind an old-fashioned, three-point play by Cedric Coward. After two minutes of no scoring, both teams found their way to the free throw line. The Vandals clawed closer at 16-12 with 9:38 left in the half. Allegri delivered the counter with made three-pointer. The game remained tight as Eastern could not separate from Idaho. Price got inside for a layup and a 22-18 lead with 6:58 on the clock. The sophomore continued to be effective inside, registering his second dunk of the game for a 32-26 lead. Following a Vandal three, Eastern went on a 7-0 burst to lead by 10 with 1:53 left in the half. The Eagles went into half with a 41-32 lead after shooting 53.6 percent in the half. Idaho was limited to 36.0 percent in the half.

With the lead, Eastern opened the second half on a 9-0 run, with Tyreese Davis, going inside for a pair of scores. Casey Jones did damage at the free throw line after getting inside to draw contact. The Eagles led 58-38 with 14:04 left in the game. The Eagles were scoring from everywhere as they continued to extend their lead. They led 70-47 with 9:36 left in the game. It was extended out to 85-59 with 5:14 left in the game. Davis and Allegri were scoring at-will against the Vandals during the stretch. Coward scored inside to keep the points coming for Eastern. Deon Stroud would come off the bench and delivered with pair of rim-breaking dunks to put an exclamation point on the game for the Eagles. At the end, Eastern won the game 95-74, recording a 67.7 shooting percentage in the second half. Idaho shot 40.0 percent for the half.

Overall in the game, Eastern had a 61.0 shooting percentage and held the Vandals to a 38.0 percentage.

Key Statistics
Eastern dominated the paint, outscoring the Vandals 50 to 20. They grabbed six offensive rebounds and scored nine points on second chance opportunities.

Casey Jones pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds for his fourth double figure rebound game of the season. Jones was one point shy of the double-double with nine points. Ethan Price was second on the team with seven rebounds.

Angelo Allegri recorded his 12th game this season scoring in double figures. Steele Venters had his 13 game, while Price notched is ninth, Tyreese Davis had is 10^th and Cedric Coward had his sixth.

Venters was 4-of-4 from the free throw line and is now 21-of-21 from the line in conference games.

Coward matched his career-high with two blocks.

Eastern scored 21 points off of 14 Vandal turnovers. The Eagles had 10 turnovers in the game.

The game had four lead changes and no ties.

Up Next
Eastern Washington will play Montana at Reese Court on Monday, Jan. 16 at 6 p.m., concluding a four-game homestand for the Eagles.