CHENEY, Wash. — Every night it's a different guy for the Eastern Washington Eagles (17-8, 11-1 Big Sky) and on Thursday night, it was
Casey Jones.
Eastern's hard-nosed junior forward scored a career-high 26 points — 20 of which came in the second half — to lead the Eagles to an 88-82 win over Idaho State in Cheney on Thursday night. He added 3 steals, 2 rebounds and an assist.
"It seemed like the energy was dead (at half)," Jones said. "I thought 'I've got to get everybody going, right?' so I kind of took that upon myself to get my teammates going."
The Eagles led for all but 3:25 of the game but never by more than 11 as the two clubs traded runs throughout. Down by that game-high 11-point margin with 3:44 left in the first, ISU hit three-straight baskets, including two from deep, to cut the deficit to 3. Eastern led by only 8 at the break.
The second half was more of the same as ISU refused to go away quietly, tying the game at 59 apiece midway through. They shot 10-for-20 from beyond the arc on the night but a scorching 7-of-11 in the second half. It was Jones consistently getting to the foul line that kept Eastern on the right side of the ledger. He drew 10 fouls, converting 11 of 13 free throws.
"When we have a big lineup like we have, I've got to dive into the post," Jones continued. "There's not much (opposing guards) can do but foul me and hope the refs swallow their whistle. That didn't happen tonight and we punished them for it."
Jones consistently does a high proportion of his damage at the line, ranking second in the NCAA in free throw rate — free throws attempted divided by field goals attempted — and 14th in fouls drawn per 40 minutes of play.
"Our guys know what it looks like when we're playing tough and playing with an edge defensively. (Idaho State) was comfortable. They were 6-of-9 or 7-of-10 from 3 and that just means they're comfortable. They're going to make shots when they're comfortable," head coach David Riley noted. "I thought we got our edge back (late), we didn't panic and we beat a veteran team."
Eastern's senior shooting guard Jake Kyman nailed a deep triple of his own — his only of the game — to make it 69-64 as part of a 12-3 Eastern run to make it 75-66 with 4:22 remaining.
Jones turned in one of many highlight-worthy plays a minute later, intercepting a Bengal pass and taking it the length of the court for a trademark two-handed jam to make it 79-68. His previous career high was 25 scored at Weber State last season.
"Casey did a really good job of setting the tone," Riley added. "...(he) came in with a mindset that 'we've got to get stops.' He made two or three big defensive plays, got an offensive board, and just kind of set the tone for us."
The victory pushes EWU to 11-1 in Big Sky Conference play, a full three games ahead of second-place Northern Colorado, who lost in overtime at Portland State on Thursday to drop to 8-4. The Eagles play at UNC next Saturday, Feb. 24, potentially with a chance to clinch the regular season championship.
They'll have plenty to handle before that, however, as the preseason favorite Weber State Wildcats come to Cheney on Saturday for a 2 p.m. tip.
Eastern's next home game is Saturday, Feb. 17 vs. the Weber State Wildcats. It's a White Out as the first 500 fans will receive a white EWU Basketball t-shirt courtesy of BECU. All fans are encouraged to wear white with tip-off scheduled for 2 p.m. Tickets for Saturday 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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