Eastern Washington starts Big Sky play with win at Montana 87-80

From staff reports

MISSOULA – Eastern Washington opened Big Sky Conference play with an 87-80 victory over Montana in Missoula on Thursday night.

Senior Angelo Allegri hit 6 of 12 shots to lead Eastern (7-7 overall) with 19 points. Eagles sophomore Dane Erikstrup added 17 points off the bench – largely thanks to a 9-of-10 night from the free-throw line.

Early in the second half Montana built a seven-point lead, its largest of the game. But 5 minutes later, Ethan Price drained a 3-pointer to tie the game at 65 with 7 minutes, 30 seconds left. While the Grizzlies (6-7, 0-1) took a couple one-basket leads after that, the Eagles pulled away in the final minutes.

With 1:30 left, Price made a layup, drew a foul and made the free throw to give Eastern an 82-76 lead. That was all the Eagles would need.

In addition to Allegri and Erikstup, four other Eagles scored in double digits: Price had 13, and Tyreese Davis, Steele Venters and Cedric Coward each had 12.

The 17 points for Erikstrup came after the transfer from Cal Poly Pomona put up a season-high 21 points against Northwest Indian College last week.

After the game, EWU coach David Riley said Price gave Erikstrup a shout-out for doing in a game what he does to Price every day in practice.

“With transfers, it usually takes about half a year to get comfortable,” Riley said on a postgame radio interview. “It’s showing that he’s getting more comfortable out there.”After making at least 10 3-pointers in each of their past four games, the Eagles were just 5 of 20 from 3-point range . But they shot 26 of 54 overall (48%), and they outrebounded the Grizzlies by 17 (45-28).

Sophomore Casey Jones – who didn’t score – had a team-high nine rebounds for Eastern.

Eastern also made 30 of 34 free throws, the first time the Eagles had made more than 18 free throws in a game this year. They also got 31 points off the bench and 34 points in the paint. All that helped them overcome 14 turnovers and the off night shooting from 3-point range.

“(Our guys) got paint touches when we needed,” Riley said, “and I just think our guys are learning what it looks like to be a consistent team.”Eastern finishes its road trip with a game at defending conference champion Montana State (8-6, 1-0) on Saturday in Bozeman. The Bobcats beat Idaho 72-58 on Thursday night.