CHENEY, Wash. — Eastern Washington University men's basketball begins the home stretch of conference play with a program record 12-game winning streak and perfect 10-0 record in the Big Sky, looking to extend their hold on first place. The Eagles hope to stay hot in a pair of 7 p.m. road contests, at Sacramento State on Thursday and Portland State on Saturday.

Game Details
Eastern (16-7; 10-0 Big Sky) heads to California to take on Sacramento State (12-10; 5-4) on Thursday night, looking to build off their 78-75 victory over the Hornets at Reese Court on Jan. 7. Steele Venters stole the show, posting 25 points on 9-for-12 shooting, including 5-for-7 from beyond the arc. Tyreese Davis and Casey Jones each chipped in 11 points as the Eagles shot 54.5% (30-for-55) from the field. Sacramento State was carried by senior guard and team-leading scorer Zach Chappell, who put up 23 points on 9-for-16 shooting. Venters and Chappell rank 10^th and 11^th on the Big Sky scoring leaderboard, respectively. Eastern has won six of their last seven games against Sacramento State.

The Eagles travel to the Rose City to take on the Vikings on Saturday evening, again looking to repeat the result from earlier this season as they won 92-80 in Cheney on Jan. 5. Venters, who was recognized for his two-game effort with Big Sky Player of the Week honors, led the Eagles with 25. Angelo Allegri was close behind with 21 on an efficient 7-for-8 shooting (6-for-7 from 3-point range). PSU was notably without team-leading scorer Cameron Parker, who averages 15.5 per game (8^th in the Big Sky). EWU has won six in a row against the Vikings dating back to 2019.

Last Time Out

The Eagles continued their torrid hot streak last weekend, winning their 14^th-straight home game and 12^th-straight overall, both new program records.

They defeated Idaho State 81-68 on Thursday behind a 55-point second half, improving from 36% shooting (9-25) in the first to 62.5% (20-32) in the final 20 minutes. It was a balanced attack as eight Eagles scored 6+ points, with three in double digits, led by Allegri (17) and Venters (16). Forward Ethan Price pulled down a season-high 10 rebounds.

EWU closed out the first half of Big Sky play with a dramatic 75-71 win over Weber State in front of over 2,200 at Reese Court on Saturday as Allegri took over, scoring a career-best 28 points on 10-of-12 shooting and 6-of-8 from 3. The Eagle bench proved their power once again this season, scoring 21 points led by 11 from Cedric Coward, who also picked up 11 rebounds for his second double-double of the season.

Chasing 1,000

Venters, after scoring 29 points in two games last weekend, is now just 39 away from hitting 1,000 for his career. He would become the 24^th player in EWU history to reach the mark entirely as an Eagle. He ranks 7^th in the conference in field goal percentage (46.4), 10^th in points per game (15.2) and tied with Allegri for 6^th in 3-pointers per game (2.09). Venters led the Eagles in scoring last season, scoring 550 (16.7 average) to rank 5^th in the Big Sky, earning second-team all-conference honors.

Davis reached the prestigious career 1,000-point club last weekend against Idaho State as the transfer guard enters the weekend with 204 points as an Eagle. He was a star with Jacksonville University of the Atlantic Sun Conference before arriving in Cheney, earning All-Freshman honors in 2018-19 and piling up 802 points over three seasons (he missed the 2019-20 season with an injury).

Limiting Mistakes

The Eagles, after struggling at times with turnovers early this season, have now limited their total to 13 or fewer in six-straight games for a 10.5 average, well below their season-long average of 14.

Next Home Games

The Eagles' next home games at Reese Court will be on Thursday, Feb. 16 (6 p.m.) vs. Northern Arizona and Saturday, Feb. 18 (2 p.m.) vs. Northern Colorado. Tickets for both games are available at goeags.com/tickets.