Eastern Washington beats Portland State to extend win streak to 14 games
From staff reports
PORTLAND – Eastern Washington extended its winning streak to 14 games – the longest current run in Division I men’s basketball – with a 98-88 victory over Big Sky rival Portland State on Saturday at Viking Pavilion.
The 98 points were the most scored by the Eagles against a D-I opponent this year. Junior Tyreese Davis led the charge with a season-high 27 points on 9-of-11 shooting, including back-to-back 3s to open the game.
“He’s a mismatch nightmare,” EWU coach David Riley said of Davis during a postgame radio interview.
“We’ve been talking as a team (that) someone’s going to step up every night, and tonight was his turn.”
Eastern also shot 67% from the field, setting a season high for the second game in a row after making 64.6% in an 82-63 win over Sacramento State on Thursday.
With six games to go in the Big Sky regular season, the Eagles are 12-0 in conference play, two games ahead of Montana State .
The Eagles (18-7 overall) were called for 24 fouls, and they managed the ramifications of that throughout the game. But they were able to stick to their usual eight-man rotation, and no one fouled out.
Eastern went 23 of 31 at the foul line, attempting its second-most free throws of the season.
Cameron Parker, who didn’t play in the teams’ previous matchup this year, scored a season-high 29 points for the Vikings. It was his fourth game in a row scoring at least 20.
Parker and Jorell Saterfield (16 points) kept the Vikings (10-14, 4-7) within single digits – and at times got them a couple of points ahead – most of the game before the Eagles eventually pulled away in the second half.
EWU sophomore Steele Venters finished with 19 points and made 3 of 6 3-pointers. Senior Angelo Allegri added 13 points, while sophomores Cedric Coward and Ethan Price had 12 and 11, respectively.
“When we’re focused on us and playing Eastern Washington basketball, we’re really tough to beat,” Riley said.
Portland State shot 44% from the field and made 21 of 28 free throws.
The Eagles play again Saturday at Idaho, which improved to 3-9 in Big Sky play (and 9-16 overall) with an 82-76 overtime victory over Sacramento State on Saturday.