Florida International holds off Eastern Washington in second half for wire-to-wire win

From staff reports

MIAMI – Florida International led from start to finish in a 90-79 victory over the Eastern Washington men’s basketball team on Sunday in Miami.

The loss dropped the Eagles to 2-5 overall. They shot well from long range, making 11 of 27 3-point attempts. Sophomore Steele Venters led the team in scoring for the third straight game, finishing with 19 points on 7 of 17 attempts.

But the Panthers (4-2) shot 55.2% from the field – their best showing of the season – and made 20 of 22 free-throw attempts.

After trailing by as many as 15 in the first half, Eastern drew within a point on a Tyreese Davis layup, 62-61, with 11:14 left in the second half. Over the next six minutes, FIU pushed its advantage back to 13 points, 82-69, before Eastern pushed back with a 10-0 run to draw within three points with 2:14 left.

Eastern didn’t score again, however, and FIU scored the game’s final eight points, all from the free-throw line. Six Panthers players scored in double digits, led by Arturo Dean’s 17 points.

Senior Angelo Allegri scored 15 points, the junior Davis had 14 and senior Deon Stroud had 10 for the Eagles, who return home for a pair of games this week. They host NAIA school Northwest University at 6 p.m. Wednesday and then North Dakota State at 2 p.m. Saturday.

Spokane 86, Olympic 64: Spokane led by 20 points at halftime and cruised to a win against Olympic at the Red Devil Classic in Longview.

Emmett Holt led the Sasquatch (3-1) with 27 points. Conrad Bippes added 19 points and nine rebounds.

Naysean Baisy scored 25 points for the Rangers (1-2).

Spokane hosts Salish Kootenai at home on Friday at 7:30 p.m.

Women’s basketball

Idaho 90, Navy 84: The Vandals earned their first win of the season on the road against Navy in Annapolis, Maryland.

Beyonce Bea posted a big game of 34 points and 13 rebounds for Idaho (1-3). Bea made 11 of her 16 attempted field goals and made 12 free throws.

Tiana Johnson had 13 points and four rebounds.

Navy (0-7) tried to match Bea’s output with Sydne Watts’ 33 points.

Idaho plays Nevada on Saturday at 4 p.m. in the USD Winter Classic in San Diego.

UC Santa Cruz 58, Whitworth 57: Kimberly Dewey missed a game-winning shot and Whitworth lost on the road to UC Santa Cruz.

Olivia Mayer led the Pirates (2-3) with 24 points and 13 rebounds.

Kaylee Murphy had 10 points and 13 rebounds for the Banana Slugs (7-0).

Whitworth continues its stretch of six straight games on the road against Puget Sound on Friday at 6 p.m.