Harvey’s 31 fuels Eastern by N Colorado

GREELEY, Colo. – Tyler Harvey drained seven 3-pointers to finish with 31 points as Eastern Washington defeated Northern Colorado 80-66 Thursday night.

“It’s becoming routine for Tyler – a 31-point game and 7-of-11 from three,” Eastern head coach Jim Hayford said. “He is becoming a very, very special player.”

The Eagles (14-14, 9-8 Big Sky) shot 49 percent from the field and outrebounded UNC 35-25. Ognjen Miljkovic came off the bench to score 11 points and Venky Jois added 10.

“We executed really well,” said Hayford. “Northern Colorado is a really good rebounding team and we owned the boards. It was a really good team win.”

UNC (16-10, 10-7) shot 45.8 percent, but went just 4 of 16 from deep. Tate Unruh had 13 points.

EWU surged ahead with a 27-9 run in the first half to go up 38-22. Harvey fueled the run with a trio of 3-pointers, a dunk and three free throws.

The Bears pulled within 10 in the second half, but a 17-8 EWU run sparked by two Miljkovic 3-pointers put them up 19 at the midway mark.

Harvey set a school record with his 104th 3-pointer on the season, helping EWU move into a four-way tie for fifth place in a tight Big Sky race.

The Eagles won for the sixth time in their last eight games in handing UNC its first home loss of the season (13-1). More importantly, it gave the Eagles a season sweep over the Bears, which could come into play in tiebreakers at the end of the season. There are still 10 teams jockeying for seven spots in the Big Sky tournament.

“This is a great win and they were undefeated (at) home until we beat them,” said Hayford, whose team fell at home to Portland State 87-76 three days earlier. “Our team showed great character to come back and play this way after Monday’s loss. This was our third game in five days. I’m just really proud of our team – we showed great character and great togetherness.”

The win moves EWU from a four-way tie for sixth in the Big Sky into a four-way tie for fifth.

Harvey broke the previous 3-point record of 103 set by Shanon Taylor in the 1998-99 season.