Eastern has its way against Cascade

The Eastern Washington men’s basketball team played its own version of chicken or the egg Friday night.

The Eagles buried a school-record 16 3-pointers and finished with seven players scoring in double figures in a 91-59 romp over Cascade College at Reese Court in a non-conference contest.

EWU (4-8) also hauled down 20 offensive rebounds, offering the Eagles second and third opportunities to fill the bucket. Those opportunities often translated into open looks beyond the 3-point arc, where Eastern marksmen knocked down 16 of 27 attempts. Of course, the Eagles’ proficiency from the perimeter also softened the Thunderbirds’ interior defense and created more space to rebound the ball.

“The last three days, rebounding has been a point of emphasis,” EWU coach Kirk Earlywine said. “Tonight we had 20 offensive rebounds on only 35 missed shots.”

Adris DeLeon tallied a team-high 15 points to pace the balanced Eastern offense. Kellen Williams had 14 points, and Trey Gross and Milan Stanojevic scored 13 apiece.

“We don’t have a guy who will be the 15th pick in the (NBA) draft, and we don’t have a guy who can get 25 (points) every night,” Earlywine said, making a reference to former standout Rodney Stuckey. “We’ve got several guys capable of scoring 20 on a given night, but we’ve got to play that way every night. We can’t focus on one guy getting shots.”

Eastern capitalized on a pair of technical fouls whistled against Cascade midway through the first half. The Eagles scored seven points in 10 seconds, including Stanojevic’s four free throws, to stretch their lead to 30-17.

EWU led 60-30 at halftime and by as many as 35 points in the second half. DeLeon’s 3-pointer with 8½ minutes left in the game tied the team record of 15 3-pointers made against Idaho State in January 1999. Gross set the new mark with a 3-pointer 90 seconds later.

“The fact that we moved the ball and made the extra pass, that got us some really good shots,” Earlywine said. “I’m happy we passed up some good shots to get an even better shot.”

Cascade’s Erving Adams led all scorers with 22 points.