EWU unable to keep pace with Nevada in 91-76 loss

After keeping the game close in the first half, the Eastern Washington Eagles men’s basketball team lost its season opener at Nevada 91-76 on Tuesday night in Reno.

Linton Acliese led the Eagles with 19 points on 8-of-16 shooting and also grabbed a team-high 12 rebounds.

It was the Eagles’ first game under head coach David Riley, who took over for Shantay Legans after last season. Eastern shot 44.8% from the field but had trouble slowing Nevada, which made more than half its field-goal attempts (50.7%) and outrebounded the Eagles by five.

Eastern held a 26-25 lead with just more than 4 minutes to go in the first half, but Nevada finished the half on an 18-8 run. The Eagles briefly cut the Wolf Pack’s lead to single digits (49-40) early in the second half before Nevada pulled away.

Four other Eagles reached double digits in scoring, including 13 by Angelo Allegri.

Price, a 6-foot-10 freshman from England, led the Eagles with six assists while making 4 of 11 attempts from the field. He sank 2 of 6 3-point attempts.

Eastern turned over the basketball 14 times, five more times than Nevada did, and that led to a 17-6 advantage for the Wolf Pack in points off turnovers.

Last season, Nevada finished 16-10 overall and 10-7 in the Mountain West Conference. The Wolf Pack last reached the NCAA Tournament in 2019.

On Friday afternoon, Eastern (0-1) plays at UC Davis, which beat Utah State 72-69 in its season opener on Tuesday. The Eagles will play their first home game on Monday against Walla Walla, an NAIA team.