SEATTLE, Wash. — The Eastern Washington Eagles (4-7) took the Washington Huskies (8-3) to their limit on Thursday night in Seattle, but a late cold shooting spell proved costly as EWU fell short, losing 66-73.
Down 23-14 midway through the first half, Eastern responded with a furious 17-3 run — led by 7 points from junior forward Dane Erikstrup — to take a 31-26 lead with 4:03 left. Erikstrup scored 12 of his team-leading 17 points in the opening 20 minutes as Eastern took a 1-point lead into the break, 40-39.
EWU shot 51.7% (15-29) from the field in the first despite hitting just 3-of-11 shots from beyond the arc. They outrebounded UW 18-13 and scored 24 points in the paint to UW's 10.
"That's what we want to be," said head coach David Riley. "We have a team that has a lot of guys who want to finish around the rim."
The second half was a different story as the Huskies ratcheted up their defensive pressure. EWU struggled with fouls and couldn't find a good rhythm in a choppy game, hitting just 10 of 30 shots down the stretch. The Eags played effective defense of their own to keep the game close — it was tied at 62 apiece with four minutes left in regulation.
UW continued to lean and Eastern couldn't find the net, however, as the Huskies punched out a 10-1 run late to take over for good. Jake Kyman hit a three to make it a 3-point game with 1:20 to go, but that was as close as it'd get.
"We just played a really good team," Riley continued. "UW has a lot of talent they're well coached… if you're going to beat a team like that, you're going to have to shoot better than 5 of 22 from three."
Eastern held Pac-12 leading scorer Keion Johnson to 20 points with 8 coming at the free throw line. Fifth-year forward Moses Wood added 17 and Koren Johnson picked up 11.
Riley was complimentary of his team after the game, looking ahead to the start of their conference slate next week as they host Portland State on Dec. 28 and Sacramento State on Dec. 30. The Eagles' non-conference schedule has ranked as one of the toughest in the entire NCAA.
"(We've seen improvement in) pretty much in every area," Riley noted. "I knew there were going to be growing pains with guys moving to new positions. It takes time to learn how to win.
"They worked all summer to learn how to play their positions, but it takes reps… Overall, our execution has been getting better. That's what we do at Eastern Washington. I've been here 13 years and we always continue to grow and play our best ball in February and March."
In addition to Erikstrup's 17, forward Ethan Price scored 12, Casey Jones had 10 and redshirt freshman LeJuan Watts finished just one point short of his second career double-double (9 points, 10 rebounds). Veteran point guard Ellis Magnuson filled the stat sheet, scoring a season-high 7 points while adding 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals.
Overall, EWU finished 25-59 (42.4%) from the field and 5-22 (22.7%) from three-point range, outrebounding UW 34-32, winning the paint scoring battle 40-24 and tying in turnovers, 14-14. UW shot 44.2% on the night (23-52).
Eastern will host Portland State and Sacramento State next week before closing the books on their non-conference schedule on Jan. 3 and Jan. 6, at South Dakota and home against North Dakota State, respectively.
The Eagles' next home game is Thursday, Dec. 28 versus the Portland State Vikings. It's another Holiday Hoops Game as kids 12 and under receive free tickets during Winter Break.
Season tickets for EWU men's and women's basketball are now available and start as low as $100! Tickets for basketball and all EWU Athletics events are available at goeags.com/tickets or via the EWU Athletics Ticket Office at 509-359-6059.
ABOUT EASTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS
Eastern Washington University Athletics sponsors 14 intercollegiate sports, six for men and eight for women, both as learning opportunities for its most athletically talented students and as an enhancement to student and community life. Eastern is affiliated with Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and is a member of the Big Sky Conference, an association of 10 regional schools with comparable enrollments and academic goals.
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