CHENEY, Wash. – Eastern Washington fell to Idaho 85-81 in its final regular-season matchup before the Big Sky Conference Tournament. Despite the loss, the Eagles secured the No. 3 seed after finishing conference play at 11-7.
Isaiah Moses led the way with 28 points, while
Alton Hamilton IV added 20 and JoJo Anderson contributed 15, including a strong second half. The Eagles shot an efficient 54 percent from the field and recorded 11 blocks defensively, but were hurt on the glass and from beyond the arc, where Idaho shot 48 percent from three-point range.
Eastern Washington opened the game on ana good run behind Hamilton's early finish and back-to-back stepback threes from Moses, but momentum shifted as the half wore on. The Eagles trailed 34-30 at the break and quickly saw the deficit grow to 11 early in the second half. "They just had an edge to them tonight," associate head coach
Ryan Lundgren said. "They were the tougher team tonight, bottom line. I mean, they just wanted that game more than us." Idaho capitalized on second- and third-chance opportunities, a point Lundgren emphasized afterward. "We did not rebound the ball well. So we have to clean that up going into the Big Sky tournament. A lot of their timely shots came off second, third chance opportunities."
The Eagles continued to battle, cutting into the lead behind free throws from Moses and a second-chance three from Hamilton that gave Eastern Washington a brief 63-62 advantage with under six minutes to play. Anderson was aggressive late, attacking the rim and scoring 15 in the second half. "He's a competitor. He made some big plays. He got to the rim," Lundgren said. "Alton made some big finishes. And obviously, Isaiah stepped up, made free throws like he normally does. So we did some good things, but it really came down to lack of defensive effort and rebounding the ball. We just didn't get it done." Idaho answered with key baskets down the stretch to seal the four-point decision.
Lundgren noted the team will use the loss as a reset heading into postseason play. "Hopefully we can use this as something to recalibrate us because we didn't play with the same edge that we have the last month," he said. "It's almost like we got up eight-nothing and expected, here we go again. We just didn't do the things you need to do to have a big win." With a week before its next game, Eastern Washington will regroup before traveling to Boise for the conference tournament. "We'll watch film, get some shots up, take a day off and have a couple good practices," Lundgren said. "It's truly win or go home. We've got to turn the page. We're zero and zero now."
Up Next
Eastern will head to Big Sky Tournament in Bosie, Idaho as the No.3 seed and will play on Monday, March 9 at 7 p.m., PST and will play the No.6 seed Weber State.
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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