Eastern seeks first triumph

After taking its new offense on the road, the Eastern Washington’s men’s basketball team is ready to do some tinkering at home.

The Eagles (0-2) face Lewis-Clark State (2-2) tonight at 7:05 at Reese Court.

Eastern opened its season with losses at Gonzaga and UNLV, both times following a similar pattern, getting buried by a bunch of first-half turnovers before settling down.

The Eagles had 20 turnovers against GU, 15 in the first half when they fell behind by 19 before losing 90-76. Against UNLV, 14 of the 22 turnovers came in the first half, when the Rebels led by 13 before the Eagles stormed back before losing 82-79.

“We’ve proven in the last two games that we need to take care of the basketball and improve in that area,” EWU coach Mike Burns said. “That’s going to be our focus, as well as just improving as a basketball team. I thought in the second half of the UNLV game we really improved.”

L-C State of Lewiston, an NAIA Division-I school, was 13-16 last season. Junior forward Mike Gordy, a transfer from Northern Colorado, leads the Warriors with a 19.3 scoring average. Senior guard Teran Lee, a transfer from Chicago State, adds 11 ppg, and senior forward Jared Tikker, from Lakeside (Nine Mile Falls) High, is at 5.5.