Eastern Washington holds off winless Cal with late basket

BERKELEY, Calif. – Tyreese Davis made a layup with 24 seconds left to lift Eastern Washington past winless California 50-48 in nonconference play Wednesday night at Haas Pavilion.

It was the EWU men’s basketball program’s first win over Cal and its fifth over a Pac-12 program.

After Davis’ basket, Cal’s Kuany Kuany missed a 3-pointer with 4 seconds left.

Eagles sophomore Casey Jones grabbed the rebound – his 14th of the game – and was fouled.

Jones missed the front of the 1-and-1, but Cal’s midcourt heave missed the basket at the buzzer.

“Just really excited for the way we won that game,” Eastern coach David Riley said in a radio interview. “Defense travels.”

Eastern improved to 4-5 on the season . Cal is 0-10.

Davis, a junior, led the Eagles with 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting and was the only EWU player to shoot better than 50% from the floor. Eastern shot 38% (20 of 52).

But Cal was little better, making 17 of 44 shots (39%). The Golden Bears committed 17 turnovers, four more than the Eagles , and Cal never led.

Eastern led 27-20 at halftime and pushed its edge to 34-22 in the second half before Cal made a run to tie the game at 48 with 34 seconds remaining.

After scoring 33 points on Saturday – a performance that earned him Big Sky Player of the Week honors – Eagles sophomore Steele Venters was held to four points. Often in foul trouble, Venters played 27 minutes and fouled out with 1:35 left.

The Eagles continue their road trip at South Dakota State (3-7) on Saturday and at Texas Tech (6-2) on Tuesday.