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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Eastern basketball team stays grounded after big win over Indiana

Eastern point guard Drew Brandon puts up a shot against Indiana's James Blackmon Jr. in what turned out to be a career-high scoring night for the senior. (Associated Press)

Even while they were still in the air Tuesday afternoon, the Eastern Washington basketball players had come back to earth.

The day after one of the biggest wins in school history – a nationally-televised, 88-86 win at five-time NCAA champion Indiana – the Eagles were eager to get on with the rest of the season.

It’s a season that won’t be defined by Monday’s win, no matter how many people watched the Eagles soar to new heights against one of the most storied programs in the nation.

“As we’ve been building this program, this wasn’t just a one-game thing, it’s just a milestone that shows that we really are making progress,” coach Jim Hayford said Tuesday, moments after returning to Cheney and moments before practice at Reese Court.

“As good as it is, we don’t want the highlight of our season to be what happened in the fifth game,” Hayford said.

With that in mind, the Eagles (4-1) were preparing for tonight’s home game against Northern Kentucky, a team that’s just good enough to turn the tables. The Norse, from the Atlantic Sun Conference, are 2-2, including a respectable 19-point loss last week at No. 21 Nebraska.

The Eagles will be going for their first 5-1 start in 29 years. If they do that, they’ll try to beat NAIA Eastern Oregon on Sunday and get their first 6-1 start in 38 seasons.

The Eagles are 3-0 at home and have won those games by a combined 110-point margin. Eastern is trying to protect its home court, something the Hoosiers didn’t do on Monday when the Eagles rallied from a 12-point second-half deficit and ended the nation”s second-longest nonconference home-court winning streak at 43.

A pair of wins this week will give Hayford 300 in 16 seasons as a collegiate head coach.

“We can’t have a letdown against Northern Kentucky,” Hayford said. “My hope is that anybody who is an Eastern fan will appreciate this win by showing up (tonight) and cheering our players on.”

The Eagles earned plenty of cheers Monday night, mostly from afar, as their cell phones were blowing up in the visitors’ locker room at Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Indiana. Fans from all over the world offered congratulations and helped the Eagles savor the moment.

“I heard from a lot of family and some close friends,” said senior point guard Drew Brandon, who scored a career-high 27 points against Indiana. “A lot of people were watching … it was good to hear from them.”

Moments later, Brandon set off for practice.

“We’re going to take this win and realize that it is a big win for us and our program, and we need to build on it – we can’t go backwards,” Brandon said.