DENVER, Colo. – Eastern Washington battled down to the wire on Wednesday night in Denver, falling 93–89 in a high-scoring matchup inside Hamilton Gymnasium. The Eagles shot an impressive 60 percent from the field and 50 percent from deep, led by
Isaiah Moses' game-high 28 points on 10-of-13 shooting, including a perfect 4-for-4 from three. Despite the efficient offensive performance, Denver used balanced scoring and late execution to edge out EWU in the final moments.
"A season high for us on offense, 60 percent from the field, 9-of-18 from three, offense was not the problem tonight," said associate head coach
Ryan Lundgren. "We need to defend better… you're not going to win many games when you give up 93 points. Zone or man tonight, we struggled to defend."
Kiree Huie,
Straton Rogers, and
Alton Hamilton IV also finished in double figures. Rogers led Eastern with six rebounds, while Moses and Hamilton each dished out three assists. The Eagles outrebounded Denver 28–26 and outshot the Pioneers 60 percent to 48.2 percent from the field, yet defensive lapses made the difference.
Rogers opened the game with a turnaround jumper, followed by a three from Marquardt to spark an early surge. Eastern built a 20–10 lead behind an 11–0 run, but Denver responded quickly and trimmed the margin to one with 10 minutes remaining. The Pioneers tied the game at 26–26 before taking their first lead on a three, and after a back-and-forth stretch, an 8–2 late-half push put EWU down 48–43 at the break.
The Eagles countered with a 5–0 run out of halftime to even it up, only for Denver to answer and regain momentum. A three from
Johnny Radford cut the deficit, and later
Tyler Powell buried another to tie the game at 69–69. Rogers gave EWU a second-half lead with 8:46 to go, and Marquardt added a three to push the Eagles ahead by four. Denver responded immediately, and down the stretch capitalized on key possessions. Moses drilled a deep three with four seconds remaining to pull within two, but the Pioneers held on for the 93–89 win.
Lundgren noted Eastern's challenges defending Denver's size and closing halves: "Outside of their guards, they're 6'7", 6'8" across the board. Their size bothered us early, they had eight offensive rebounds in the first half, though we only gave up two in the second, which was good. But we go through lapses, get tired, make mistakes, and we just have to fix it. At times it's maddening, but we just have to keep getting better in practice."
He added, "The last four minutes of each half hurt us. We had leads, but we didn't finish. You hope the adversity now helps us in conference play, but we've got to get better in a hurry."
Up Next
Eastern heads back to Cheney to close out the Big Sky–Summit League Challenge, hosting Kansas City, the team's first Division I home opponent, on Saturday, Dec. 6 at 2 p.m. "It'll be a breath of relief to play in front of our fans again," Lundgren said. "They're long, athletic and talented — we'll have to be ready to go."
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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