Four corners notebook: Eagles aim for crucial win at Missoula

Winning on the road is a precious commodity in the Big Sky Conference.

The top four teams in the conference are unbeaten at home in league play, but Eastern Washington hopes to make a breakthrough tonight at Montana. The Eagles haven’t won in Missoula in 12 years.

“We know it’s going to be a tough battle,” EWU point guard Drew Brandon said. “We know they’re a tough team, and it’s going to come down to heart and toughness.”

It’s the same for Montana, which narrowly missed a road breakthrough last weekend, falling 70-69 at Sacramento State. Worse for the Griz – who are 5-0 at home – they won’t get a chance for revenge because of an unbalanced league schedule.

Eastern has played two fewer games than 9-1 Sacramento State, which already has three road victories to go along with a 6-0 home mark. Eastern is 2-1 on the road and 5-0 at home, while the Grizzlies are also unbeaten in five tries at home and have split their four road games.

“We haven’t won at Montana since I’ve been here,” EWU guard Tyler Harvey said. “We have to stop them and execute our offense, but our main emphasis is defense.”

Eastern clutch at foul line

Even after a poor effort last week, the Eagles are easily the best free-throw shooting team in the Big Sky.

Through eight conference games, Eastern is 7-1 partly because it’s hitting 81.8 percent from the foul line.

“I never was worried about our free-throw shooting,” coach Jim Hayford said.

With good reason: For the season, the Eagles rank 18th in Division 1 with a 74.5 percent average – a far cry from the 69.3 percent average of a year ago and light years ahead of the 65.5 percent performance of 2012-13.

“A lot of NBA teams would like to shoot what we are in the conference,” Hayford said.

It had been even higher. The Eagles were hitting 86.8 percent in league play going into last week’s Idaho game, but went 13 for 25. Fortunately, the Vandals weren’t much better, hitting 13 of 23, including several misses late in regulation and during overtime in a game the Eagles wound up winning 98-95.

Offense, defense

Gonzaga is one of two teams nationally that ranks in the top 15 in field-goal percentage (52.8) and field-goal percentage defense (37.6). The Zags lead the nation in field-goal percentage.

SMU, which lost to GU 72-56 in November, also ranks in the top 15 in both categories.