PORTLAND, Ore. — Eastern Washington (15-8, 9-1 Big Sky) erased an early first half deficit, filled the basket from all corners and locked down the hosting Portland State Vikings (14-9, 5-5) on Monday night, earning the season series sweep with a dominant 90-77 win in the Rose City.
Cedric Coward had a spectacular night, posting a career-high 26 points and 11 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the year.
"It's a heck of an effort for these guys," said head coach David Riley. "Three games in five days, for us to come out and play this way, it's exciting."
Eastern won two of three on what is likely the toughest road stretch of their conference season, playing three games in the last five days, all on the road (at Montana State on Thursday, at Montana on Saturday).
Eastern started the game ice cold, shooting just 1-for-8 from the floor to find themselves in an early 12-3 hole just 4:30 into play.
From there, it was all Eags.
EWU shot 12-for-22 the rest of the first half, sprinkling in an 11-0 run to take control 45-33 at the break. Forward Casey Jones nearly had a double-double in just the first 20 minutes, posting 12 points and 9 rebounds to go along with 3 assists and 3 steals. He finished with 12 and 11 for his third career double-double.
"(Jones) keeps on getting better. It's funny, there's a lag time between practice production and game production. He's had his best two or three weeks of practice these few weeks and it's starting to show."
After scoring only 3 points before halftime, Coward came out red hot in the second — hitting three 3-point shots before the first media timeout on his way to 23 in the half — as the Eags pushed the lead to 19 just 3:19 into the period.
"He was on the bike with about three minutes left to go in (halftime), and we just talked about how the game plan right now, if (Portland State) was going to switch everything, was to have our bigs play inside and attack the smaller mismatches," Riley continued. "(He knew) that he's got to do a better job finding the windows. He came out and hit two or three threes in a row. It was cool to see him adjust that quick."
They extended it further to 25 with under seven minutes to go after an old-fashioned three as forward Ethan Price flushed a two-handed dunk through contact for the and-1. Price finished with 15 points and 8 rebounds.
Portland State cut the deficit away late using full court pressure with the game comfortably decided. Seven of EWU's 22 turnovers came with under two minutes remaining.
EWU controlled the glass as a team for the second game in a row — they corralled a season-high 53 compared to PSU's 30 on Monday after edging Montana 43-33 in Saturday's win. They held the Vikings to 8-for-28 from outside and 40.3% shooting overall despite the easy buckets in the waning seconds.
"Defense travels. Defense is going to win in March and so we've been focusing on that side."
Riley has never lost as head coach against the Vikings as Monday's win marked the program's ninth in a row head-to-head. Their 91-57 win over PSU in Cheney on Dec. 28 was their most lopsided conference win since 2006. They last lost in Portland in Dec. 2019.
Eastern returns home on Saturday to host the Idaho Vandals as part of a women's-men's doubleheader, with the women starting at 2 p.m. and men at 4:30. The men will host five of their final eight Big Sky games.
Eagle Notes
- G Ellis Magnuson tied the program record with his 138th career game played, matching former Big Sky MVP and all-time leading scorer Bogdan Bliznyuk.
- It was the Eagles' first game with two players recording a double-double since they hosted Portland Bible College on Dec. 13 (Coward and Erikstrup).
- Eastern last had 50+ rebounds on Dec. 20, 2022 versus Northwest Indian College (62).
- Portland State led points in the paint 34-17.
- Eastern had over 30 FT attempts for the second-straight game, making 27 of 31 including 15 of 16 in the second half.
- Eastern has won 11 of their last 12 games, losing just once since the start of December.
Eastern's next home game is Saturday, February 10 vs. Idaho. It will be Equality and Inclusion Night at Reese Court in Cheney, with a doubleheader as the Eastern women will play at 2 p.m. followed by the men at 4:30 p.m. Tickets for that game 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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