The final score was too close for what Eastern Washington men's basketball wanted it to be, but it was a win. Eastern defeated Sacramento State on Saturday (Jan. 7) 78-75 to extend its winning streak to six games. The Hornets mustered a furious rally in the second half to erase a 26-point deficit and tie the game in the final minute. Steele Venters delivered the clutch three-pointer with seconds left in the game to lock-up the victory. Eastern is now 4-0 to start conference play and 10-7 overall. Sac. St. falls to 2-1 in the Big Sky and 9-7 overall.

"Coach [Riley] drew up Angelo [Allegri] coming off the pick-and-roll and to get the ball downhill. I was there for the follow-up. We we're just trying to get something up, either me or Gelo; that was the plan," Venters said. "We threw our punches early and then they threw theirs. We have to stay mentally tough through those stretches. We are a physical and tough team, but we let up sometimes when we are not supposed to, and we have to turn that around. We want to get to a higher level offensively. In that 20 minutes when we were up 26 points, we showed we can get there, but we have to do it for 40 minutes now."

Venters scored a game-high 25 points on 9-of-12(75.0%) shooting, going 5-of-7(71.4%) from three-point range.

"Our plan was getting out on the perimeter, and we have amazing bigs who are versatile that can shoot it. If [Sacramento St.] plays that defense, we are going to shoot 40 threes," head coach David Riley said. "Make or miss, they earned our confidence to do that, and we came out shooting hot. Casey Jones came in and knocked down the first couple. Ethan [Price] made one and Dan [Erikstrup] hit one, so they had to make a change. They made some plays that got them going, coming off different ball screens. Their patience on offense gave us some problems. We didn't stay disciplined and we just have to stay focused, along with getting rebounds and limiting turnovers."

The three-point shots were falling early for the Eagles as they connected with their first four attempts to race out to a 14-2 lead over the Hornets. Eastern would extend the lead out to 19-6 at the media timeout. Steele Venters was on fire with 10 points and Casey Jones followed suit with nine points during the run. It was Dane Erikstrup's turn next, hitting two-straight threes and the Eagles lead ballooned to 25-9 at 13:05. On a made three from Ethan Price, Eastern held a 34-12 lead with 8:02 left in the half. The Hornets found some rhythm scoring but the Eagles would respond with their own each time. With 3:54 left in the half, Eastern led 39-20. Cedric Coward would add his own three-point shot to close the half and put the Eagles up 49-28. Eastern posted a 58.1 shooting percentage in the first half, while Sac. St. was held to a 31.0 percent.

Eastern was cruising to the start the second half, as Tyreese Davis would score the team's first four points for a 53-31 lead. Davis would keep the offense going and score on the fast break for a 59-37 lead with 15:44 on the clock. Angelo Allegri slammed the ball home at 14:22 for a 61-37 lead for Eastern. The Vikings would go on a 13-1 run to cut the lead to lead down to 64-50. After a Davis layup, Sac. St. would go on a 10-0 burst and lead was reduced to 67-60 with 6:21 left in the game. Venters kept his long-rang shooting going to try and stop the Hornets' momentum at 73-62. Yet again, Sac. St. launched a 10-0 run and the Eagles lead was down to one. Jones would get inside for a layup to push the lead back to three at 75-72. The Hornets, playing catch-up all game, connected from three to tie the game at 75 with 15 seconds left. With the score tied, Eastern turned to its sharp-shooter, Venters to prevent overtime. Venters got his look and drilled a three to give the Eagles a 78-75 lead with 2 seconds on the clock. Sac. St. was unable to get the tying shot to fall and Eastern escaped with the win.

In the second half, the Eagles shot 50.0 percent, while Sac. St. had a 53.1 shooting percentage.

For the game, Eastern Washington shot 54.5 and the Hornets were at 42.6 percent.

Key Statistics
Eastern was 13-of-31(41.9%) from three-point range. It is the Eagles third-straight game recording 10 or more three-pointers and ninth this season.

Steele Venters recorded his fifth 20-point game of the season and second-straight, giving him 16 in his career. He also recorded his 10th career game with five or more made three-pointers, marking his fourth this season. 

The Eagles won the battle in the paint, outscoring the Hornets, 30-22. Eastern had a 34 to 30 advantage in rebounds.

Tyreese Davis led the team with eight rebounds and scored 11 points in the game. Davis also added five assists. This season, Davis has nine games scoring in double figures.

Angelo Allegri scored eight points, grabbed five rebounds, tallied four steals and had a game-high six assists.

Eastern led for the entire game, with the score being tied only twice.

Up Next
Eastern Washington will be off until next Saturday, Jan. 14, when they host Idaho, with tipoff at 3:30 p.m. Pacific Time.