MOSCOW, Idaho — Sophomore guard Steele Venters scored his 1,000th career point and junior Tyreese Davis piled up his fifth career double-double to lead the Eastern Washington University Eagles over the Idaho Vandals in Moscow on Saturday afternoon, 73-66. The win pushed EWU's NCAA Division I-leading winning streak to 15 games.
"We found another way to win," said head coach David Riley after the game. "We took care of the ball, got 12 offensive rebounds and did a pretty good job making sure the right guys were shooting at the end of the clock."
In front of an energized crowd of 3,310, the hosting Vandals came out hot, jumping out to a 10-4 lead in the first three minutes of play. The Eagles, setting the theme for the night, battled back despite struggling to shoot the ball as they tied it at 10-10 on a Venters jumper from the baseline just under seven minutes in.
Idaho made another run, pushing out to a 7-point lead midway through the first before the Eagles scratched back again. Venters and Ethan Price, who finished the night with a team-high 16, each sank 3s to tie it at 22-22. Forward Dane Erikstrup converted two free throws to close the half and give Eastern a 1-point lead despite shooting just 10-31 from the field, including 3-16 from beyond the 3-point arc.
Two layups from Angelo Allegri and a jumper from Venters gave EWU a 7-point lead of their own with just 90 seconds gone in the second half, but Idaho stormed back on an 18-5 run over the next six minutes to put the Eagles down 6 with 12:20 remaining.
Price hit a 3 to stop the bleeding with 11:57 left and Davis drained two 3s in a row to put Eastern back within 1.
Tied at 60 with 2:38 left to play, Venters caught a pass from Cedric Coward and launched the ball from well beyond the top of the key to reach the 1,000-point milestone, becoming just the 24th player in program history to do so entirely as an Eagle.
"Just really excited for him," added Riley. "Reminiscing on him walking in the door as a 160-, 170-pound freshman four years ago, to see where he's at now, it's kind of emotional seeing how far he's come and the kind of player he is today."
Casey Jones hit two free throws and Allegri completed a steal-and-score fast break to provide insurance for EWU down the stretch.
The Eagles finished the game 23-59 from the field, with 39% marking their lowest shooting percentage since Dec. 7 at Cal. They went 8-27 from 3 (29.7%) and 19-31 (61.3%) from the free throw line, both well below their season averages. The defense was up to the task, however, holding Idaho to 37.5% shooting (21-56). They also outrebounded the Vandals 41-38, including 12-7 on the offensive glass.
Davis finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds for the double-double, his 1st with Eastern Washington. The transfer from Kansas City, Mo. previously had four with Jacksonville University.
The win improves EWU's record to 19-7 (13-0 in conference play). Second-place Montana State had three Big Sky losses headed into a Saturday night matchup at Idaho State.
Highlights
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Next Games
The Eagles' next games will be at home at Reese Court in Cheney 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.
