Four Corners: Eastern still chasing top-four finish
Coming up: Saturday at Idaho, 1 p.m.
Outlook: With three games left in the regular season, Eastern is still chasing a top-four finish in the Big Sky Conference and a bye into the quarterfinals of the Big Sky tournament. Standing in the way is an Idaho team that’s only one game behind in the loss column going into their showdown in the Memorial Gym. The Eagles have won four straight over UI, including a 74-60 win in Cheney on Jan. 9. In that game EWU outshot the Vandals 53 percent to 31 percent, its best defensive performance of the year. EWU forward Venky Jois enters the game just 24 points behind the EWU career record of 1,741 set by Ron Cox in 1974-77. Already only the third player in Big Sky history to have at least 1,600 points and 900 rebounds, Jois is fifth all-time in the league in combined points and rebounds with 2,686 total. Eastern is coming off a road split last week, and enters the Idaho game having won seven of its last eight league games and 10 of its last 13 since opening the league season 0-2.
EWU leaders
Scoring: Austin McBroom, 21.9 ppg
Rebounding: Venky Jois, 8.9 rpg
Assists: McBroom, 3.7 apg