Eagles win, climb into tie atop Big Sky

POCATELLO, Idaho – Tyler Harvey scored 24 points, Venky Jois scored 21 with 10 rebounds and Eastern Washington held off Idaho State 85-81 on Thursday to move into a three-way tie at the top of the Big Sky Conference with one game remaining.

Drew Brandon had 11 points, including the clinching free throws with 8 seconds left, 10 rebounds and five assists for the Eagles, who are tied with Sacramento State – which lost at Southern Utah – and Montana.

“What a great race that it comes down to the very last day,” Eastern head coach Jim Hayford said. “I certainly would have taken that at the beginning of the season – to be told we were going into our last game tied for first place.”

Already with a school-record 22 wins, Eastern plays at Weber State on Saturday and, a year after missing the Big Sky tournament, would host next week’s tournament with a win and losses by both Sacramento State and Montana.

Harvey passed ex-Eagle, and current Indiana Pacer guard, Rodney Stuckey for fourth place on Eastern’s all-time scoring list.

Harvey also hit five 3-pointers, putting him within one of the single-season school record of 109 – a record he set himself last year.

Eastern Washington closed the first half with a 16-4 run to lead 41-26 at the break. The lead was 18 early in the second half before the Bengals rallied.

Chris Hansen hit a 3-pointer with 49 seconds left to make it 80-79 but Felix Von Hofe answered with a 3 for Eastern at 18 seconds.

Jeffrey Solarin had 23 points and 12 rebounds for Idaho State.