College basketball: Eagles fly past St. Martin’s

Senior guard Benny Valentine scored 18 first-half points in helping Eastern Washington University open a 54-28 lead at halftime as the Eagles defeated Saint Martin’s 98-61 in an exhibition basketball game Sunday at Reese Court in Cheney, Wash.

Eastern finished the game with 39 fast-break points, 30 points off turnovers and 50 points inside the paint.

“I thought it was a good start for us,”said Eastern coach Kirk Earlywine. “Our energy level defensively was good for the most part. Obviously, we have more speed and quickness on the perimeter than we’ve had the last couple of years. That was a major factor in the game, and our speed and quickness really affected them.”

Valentine finished with 22 points on 9-of-15 shooting from the field, including 4 of 6 three-pointers.

Freshman redshirt guard Kevin Winford also scored 22 points. He made five three-pointers and had three assists and four steals.

The Eagles play Montana State-Billings in another exhibition Sunday at Reese Court at 1:05 p.m. Eastern officially opens its season at home on Saturday, Nov. 14 against Portland.

Women

Washington State 76, Lewis-Clark State 58: The Cougars forced 39 turnovers and recorded 26 steals in an exhibition victory over the Warriors at Pullman.

Jazmine Perkins scored a game-high 19 points for the Cougars. April Cook added 13 points.

Idaho 82, Northwest Christian 52: Yinka Olorunnife had 16 points and eight rebounds as the Vandals picked up an exhibition victory over the visitors from Kirkland, Wa.

Shaena Kuehu scored 13 points and grabbed a game-high nine rebounds for Idaho.