Eastern Washington came roaring back to force overtime on Friday afternoon, but the Eagles fell in overtime to Northern Colorado at the Big Sky Conference tournament semifinal in Missoula. Read Colter Nuanez's story:

S-R photojournalist Tyler Tjomsland covered the EWU home game against Montana.  Check out a big picture gallery of his photos.

S-R photojournalist Colin Mulvany covered the Eagles' win over Portland State.  Check out a big picture gallery of his game photos.

COUGARS

FROM PULLMAN — We like to ask five questions of a reporter who covers WSU's opponent each week. And we weren't going to be stopped this week by the fact that Jim Allen, the primary beat reporter for Eastern Washington, is a colleague and an S-R employee. To give some perspective on the Eagles, Jim stopped by to answer some questions. Read on.

This wasn't close, and it could have been worse. Eastern Washington was that good. Idaho was that bad. Our game story is below.

We have so much on Idaho football and its home opener tonight vs. Eastern Washington that we're going to get right to it. Check out our Vandal season preview and primer at tonight's matchup after the jump.

Collin Chiverton scored a game-high 25 points and four of his teammates also finished in double figures Thursday night as Eastern Washington University blew away NCAA Division III Linfield College 102-54 at Reese  Court.

You can get an early look at the game story that will appear in Friday morning's S-R here.

Collin Civerton scored 13 points, Cliff Colimon added 12 and Cliff Ederaine chipped in 12 at Eastern Washington cruised to a 52-29 halftime lead over NCAA Division III Linfield College at Reese Court Thursday night.

This one was over early as Eastern scored at will inside against the smaller, slower Wildcats, who got 12 of their 29 first-half points from Zach Anerson.

The Eagles shot 52.5 percent (21-40) from the field in the opening period and turned the ball over only twice.  The only Eastern starter who did not score in the first half was Laron Griffin, who picked up a couple of early fouls and took only one shot in the eight minutes he was on the floor.

You can get an early look at the S-R game story on Eastern Washington's non-conference men's basketball win over vistin UC Davis on Sunday here. 

And by the way … this could be a pretty special year for the Eags.

Senior forward Cliff Ederaine scored a career-high 23 points and added a career-high seven assists, eight rebounds and three blocks in leading Eastern Washington to a 79-59 non-conference men's basketball win over UC Davis at Reese Court Sunday afternoon.

Cliff Colimon and Tremayne Johnson each added 13 points for the Eagles. 

Check back later for link to game story that will appear in Monday morning's S-R.

Eastern Washington looked sharp in building an early 17-9 lead in its non-conference matchup against UC Davis at Reese Court Sunday afternoon.

But shortly after Cliff Ederaine scored his 11th point less than 7 minutes into the game, the Eagles' offense flatlined, letting the Aggies to storm back to take a brief 24-23 lead.

Still, Eastern managed to regain a slim 31-29 advantage at intermission, thanks to a 3-pointer by Kevin Winford and a pair of free throws by Collin Chiverton in the final 3 minutes of the opening period.

Ederaine finished the first half with 12 points  and three rebounds, but no other Eagle scored more than seven.

UC Davis got eight first-half points from Josh Richart, and outrebounded Eastern 15-12.

Eastern Washington knocked off visiting South Dakota 70-61 in its home opener at Reese Court Saturday night, give first-year head coach Jim Hayford his first NCAA Division I victory.  You can get an early look at the game story that will appear in Tuesday morning' s S-R here.

Visiting Portland State used a strong running game to knock of Eastern Washington 43-26 and spoil the Eagles' Senior Day at Roos Field on Saturday.

You can eventually check out the game story that will appear in Sunday's S-R here. 

Portland State's Connor Kavanaugh connected with Justin Monahan on an eight-yard scoring pass from eight yards out with only two second left in the second quarter to give visiting Portland State a 22-20 halftime lead over Eastern Washington in Saturday's Big Sky Conference matchup at Roos Field.

The opening 30 minutes of Senior Day was filled with odd plays and big plays that resulted in the two teams combining for 571 yards of total offensethree lost fumbles and a PSU touchdown that deflected off the hands of at least two Eastern defenders and ended up in the hands of Monahan after Eagles defensive backs Jeff Minnerly and T.J. Lee collided in the end zone while trying to interception a Kavanaugh pass originally intended for Kalua Noa.

EWU quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell was sacked on five of his first seven pass attempts, but ended up throwing for 292 first-half yards and three touchdowns.  Nick Edwards caught two of Mitchell's scoring pass,and Greg Herd hauled in the other.

Eastern's first-half rushing total was a minus-12 yards, while PSU picked up 187 yards on the ground.

Senior quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell had another big day on Saturday, throwing for 400 yards and three touchdowns as Eastern Washington University treated a sellout homecoming crowd at Roos Field to a lopsided 48-27 win over visiting Northern Colorado.

You can read the game story that will appear in Sunday morning's S-R here, and you read the post-game report posted by EWU's sports informationd department here.

Eastern Washington quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell threw for 242 yards and one touchdown and rushed for another score in leading the Eagles to a 24-10 halftime lead in Saturday's homecoming matchup against Big Sky rival Northern Colorado at Roos Field.

Mitchell completed 17 of 23 passes, connecting with Nicholas Edwards on a 19-yard scoring pass, and ran 1 yard for another TD.

Winless UNC got 163 first-half passing yards from Seth Labato, but netted only one yard on 10 rushing attempts.  Eastern also had trouble moving the ball on the ground, gaining just 17 yards on 23 rushing tries.

Eastern got its other points on an 8-yard TD run by freshman running back Quincy Forte and a 43-yard field goal by Mike Jarrett.

Eastern Washington will try to build on its modest two-game winning streak on Saturday, when the Eagles welcome Big Sky Conference rival Northern Colorado to Roos Field for a 4 p.m. Homecoming matchup.

With wide receiver Brandon Kaufman out for the year with a broken hand, look for junior Nicholas Edwards to continue getting even more attention from EWU quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell and UNC's defense.

You can get an early look at the feature story on Edwards that will run in Friday morning's S-R here, and you can check out the game notes supplied by Eastern's sports information department here. In addition, I've inclluded this link to the weekly Big Sky notes supplied by the league office.

Senior quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell completed 13 of 16 first-half passes for 209 yards and three touchdowns as Eastern Washington rolled to a 24-7 halftime lead against Big Sky Conference rival Weber State at Roos Field Saturday afternoon.

Mitchell connected with Nicholas Edwards on scoring passes of 22 and five yards, with the second coming just 19 seconds prior to intermission. His other touchdown pass went to Greg Herd, who took a short throw over the middle and turned it into a 51-yard scoring play.

Mitchell was operating without one of his favorite targets, Brandon Kaufman, who did not suit up because of a broken bone in his left hand. One of Eastern's starting cornerbacks, senior Alden Gibbs, was also on the sidelines in street clothes because of a thumb injury.

Mike Jarrett kicked a 46-yard field goal for the Eagles, outgained WSU 267-99 in the opening half and also rolled up a 17-7 edge in first downs. 

Long-time EWU assistant coach Chris Hansen is no longer on the Eagles coaching staff, according to several sources.  And why he decided to leave remains a mystery to most, because no one at Eastern is comment on what is being called a “personnel issue.”

You can read the story on Hansen's departure that ran in Thursday morning's S-R here, and you can check out the Big Sky Notebook that includes Eagles defensive coordinator John Graham's take on Saturday opponent, Weber State.

Eastern Washington's injury ravaged football team lost another key component from last year's national championship team Tuesday, when it was announced the senior linebacker Zach Johnson will undergo knee surgery and miss the rest of the 2011 season.

You can read more about Johnson and how the Eagles plan to move on without their top tackler on this post from the EWU sports information department.  And don't foreget to leave any thoughts you might have on how crippling this latest loss will be to EWU's nose-diving postseason playoff hopes.