Four Corners: Eastern wants to keep momentum going

Coming up: Thursday vs. Southern Utah, 6:05 p.m. (SWX); Saturday vs. Northern Arizona, 12:05 p.m.

Outlook: The Eagles are just 1-2 in the Big Sky, but have plenty of momentum after a big win over Idaho that saw them play their best defense of the season while shooting 53 percent from the field. Point guard Austin McBroom continues to set the tone (he had 26 points and seven assists against the Vandals), and his speed on the dribble is tough to defend. Forward Venky Jois is getting a lot of attention from opposing defenses, but ranks fourth in the nation in field goal percentage (67.9 percent). Even better, the Eagles have three straight games at Reese Court. “This really gives us three weeks to concentrate on ourselves, get better and coach our guys up,” coach Jim Hayford said. Up next are two teams that are tied with EWU in the standings. Southern Utah ranks a lowly 326th in RPI (EWU is 226th) but does a great job of protecting the ball (plus-2.7 turnover margin). The T-Birds’ balanced scoring is led by Trey Kennedy (15.0ppg) and Casey Oliverson (14.3 ppg and 73.9 percent shooting in Big Sky play). On Saturday, NAU comes in with a lowly 40 percent shooting percentage from the field; leading scorer Kris Yanku (14.6ppg) is shooting just 31.4 percent.

@srjimallen