The wins keep coming and the streak keeps growing. Eastern Washington men's basketball defeated Idaho State 81-68 on Thursday night (Jan. 26) to extend its winning streak to 11 games. The streak matches the program's longest since joining Division I. The win also marks the 13^th straight win at Reese Court, the longest in DI program history. Eastern improves to 9-0 in the Big Sky and 15-7 overall this season. Idaho State falls to 4-4 in the conference and 7-14 overall.

"We shared the ball, and we got out in transition in the second half. A lot of that started on defense. We have five guys that can get out and push it on the break. That helped us flow on offense and we started playing inside-outside," head coach David Riley said. "I think us having a couple of different presses to mix it up really sparks our guys. The guys really took the communication upon themselves and it wasn't anything I or the coaches said. The guys took pride in getting stops and we limited them to one shot a possession. We had a really good rebounding effort."

Angelo Allegri scored a team-high 17 points on 7-of-10(70%) shooting, while Steele Venters scored 16 points on 7-of-12(58.3%) shooting.

"In the second half, I felt like we started playing together," Allegri said. "We talked more, and the ball moved better as a result. That opened up the paint for us and we were able to get easy looks. That's why we shot well. In the first half, we were trying to make different plays. We felt it was selfish compared to the second half. I think all five of us are mismatch nightmares. We all feel like we have mismatches going into games. Whenever we see smaller guys, we pick on that and force them to adjust."

Eastern was out in front early, 7-2, over the Bengals, getting points from Steele Venters, Angelo Allegri and Ethan Price. Idaho St. pushed back into the game with 7-3 stretch and left the Eagles leading by one with 11:50 on the clock. The Eagles stayed in front, getting points from Price. The Bengals also found their scoring inside and they would take the lead from Eastern, 16-14, with 7:09 left in the half. Tyreese Davis would tie the game with a layup, quickly followed by an Angelo-Allegri layup to take the lead back at 5:39. With 3:55 on the clock, Cedric Coward came up with a timely offensive rebound and he put it back up for two. The Bengals were shooting well from three down the stretch and would take a 30-27 lead at 57 seconds left. The score held until halftime and the Eagles went into the break trailing. Eastern shot 36.0 percent in the half, while ISU was at 37.5 percent.

Opening the second half, Eastern charged ahead with a 6-0 run. The points came from Venters, Allegri and Casey Jones. Idaho St. countered with 7-2 stretch to retake the lead. Venters did not let the lead last long, making a jumper for the 38-37 advantage with 14:46 on the clock. The Venters score sparked a 9-0 run from the Eagles, and they built a 45-37 lead. Allegri found his stroke, hitting two threes and getting a score inside as well. The Eagles had a 56-43 lead with 9:08 left in the game. Jones would find his range again for a three and Deon Stroud got into the action with another dunk. Venters would hit another three and Eagles were up 68-49 with 4:50 on the clock. With the big lead, Eastern cruised as the clock ticked down. At the end, Eastern won the game 81-68 after shooting 62.5 percent in the second half and the Bengals finished with a 46.7 percent.

In the game, Eastern shot 50.9 percent, while the Bengals were 41.9 percent from the floor in the game.

Key Statistics
The Eagles scored 42 points in the paint to 34 from the Bengals.

Ethan Price recorded a game-high, 10 rebounds. It was his first double-digit rebounding game of the season for Price and third of his career. Eastern had a 39 to 26 advantage on the boards.

Eastern grabbed 11 offensive rebounds that led to 11 second chance points.

Steele Venters notched his 44^th career double-digit scoring game and Angelo Allegri had his 37^th.

The game saw six lead changes and three ties. Eastern led by as many as 21 points in the second half.

Casey Jones scored 10 points and had eight rebounds, along with a team-high four assists. Jones now has seven games this season scoring in double figures and eight total for his career.

This is fifth-straight game that Eastern committed 11 or less turnovers.

Up Next
Eastern Washington hosts Weber State at Reese Court on Saturday (Jan. 28) at 2 p.m. Pacific Time.