BOISE, Idaho — The Eastern Washington men's basketball team was upended in the quarterfinals of the Big Sky Tournament for the second-straight season on Sunday in Boise, losing to the #10 seed Sacramento State Hornets, 74-69. The Eagles entered the tournament as the regular season champions and top seed, just as they did last year, and finished with a 21-11 overall record.
"(In) these tournament games, the teams that play to their identity best, win," said head coach David Riley after the game. "I thought (Sacramento State) did that. They did a great job on the offensive glass, they slowed the game down. On the flip side, we didn't necessarily play to our identity the best possible way we could have."
Sacramento State led wire-to-wire in the first half, pushing their advantage out to as much as 10 at 17-7. They did much of their damage from the free throw line, converting on 14 of 17 attempts, including four each from big men Jacob Holt and Akol Mawein.
The Eagle defense struggled to find their footing for much of the half as the Hornets were shooting 56% with four minutes to go. Eastern buckled up down the stretch, holding Sacramento State to 1 their last 7 field goals to cut the lead to three at half, 32-35.
Eastern took their first lead of the game at 39-38 on a Jake Kyman three-pointer just under two minutes into the second half. Casey Jones got the Eagle faithful on their feet just seconds later, converting an alley-oop from Kyman for a dramatic two-handed reverse jam. After another short lead for the Hornets, Jones converted another dunk to make it 43-43 with 16:09 left, but that's as close as they'd get. Hornets guard Bailey Nunn sank his only three of the game — 3 of his 11 points on the day — to retake the lead and they proceeded to hold EWU at arm's length.
"Sac State played a great game," said EWU guard and First Team All-Conference honoree Cedric Coward, who finished with a team-high 22 points, adding 6 rebounds and 2 blocks. "I mean, don't get it twisted, we left it all out there on the floor and I love the group of guys we had out there. Like Coach said, sometimes the ball just doesn't roll your way. They played a great game. We didn't play to the best of what we could play, and the results showed that."
Coward completed an and-1 to get within 1 point with 6:42 left, then finished a layup followed by two Jones free throws to get within 2 at 4:35, but for every punch landed by Eastern, Sacramento State responded.
The Hornets, boasting tremendous size between Holt, Mawein and 7-footer Bowyn Beatty, controlled the glass, outrebounding EWU 34-27 while pulling down 11 offensive boards. The Eagles were 19-2 when leading in rebounding this season and the loss moved them to 2-9 when tied or trailing.
Eastern also struggled to control the ball, turning it over 15 times to just 15 assists. Perhaps most glaring was the lack of outside shooting, as they finished 6-for-26 from beyond the 3-point line (23.1%) including 2-for-13 in the second half.
Despite the loss, Riley was quick to highlight the successes of his team all season. They became the sixth regular season Big Sky Conference champion in program history and the first school to earn that distinction outright in back-to-back seasons since 2008-09. They earned several conference awards, including Coach of the Year — for the second year in a row — Freshman of the Year in LeJuan Watts, and four individual all-conference team nods.
"This has been an incredible year with these guys that I don't think one game should define the season we had," Riley noted, when asked what his message was to his team in the locker room after the game. "I talked about (how) I didn't get into this for the wins and losses, I got into it for the relationships and the ability to be in these guys' lives. For me, I know it was an incredible season and I know these guys got a lot out of it, it just sucks that it's got to end this way at this important time."
The Eastern women won on Sunday to advance to the Big Sky semifinals. They'll play the winner of Montana State and Northern Colorado on Tuesday at 12 p.m. MT / 11 a.m. PT.
Join the Eagle Athletic Fund for as low as $50 per year! Support Eagle student-athletes on and off the field while enjoying exclusive EAF perks such as season ticket and tailgating priority, invitations to special events, exclusive access and more. Visit goeags.com/eaf for more information.
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.
FOLLOW THE EAGLES
SOCIAL: Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | Instagram
