Eastern Washington takes down Portland State 72-67 behind Tyler Powell’s career game

Over the past few months, Tyler Powell has developed a reputation as a high-energy, imminently positive force for the Eastern Washington men’s basketball team.

It has earned him the praise of head coach Dan Monson – and starts in 13 games this season, including in four of the Eagles’ past five games.

But not until Saturday had Powell’s in-game production so clearly matched the intensity of his positivity.

“If you have a good attitude, the basketball gods are going to eventually reward you,” Monson said, “and he got rewarded today.”

Powell’s back-to-back baskets down the stretch – and his career-high 17 points – were key Saturday at Reese Court in Cheney as Eastern Washington beat Portland State 72-67, giving the Eagles a third consecutive win for the first time this season and helping them gain ground in the crowded middle of the Big Sky standings.

“We just had to get the ball rolling,” the redshirt junior Powell said. “This game was a testament of what we need to do from here on out.”

Powell’s previous stops included a freshman year at Seton Hall and a sophomore and redshirt year at Nevada. But at neither stop did he have a game quite like this one.

Against the Vikings, Powell was 7 for 7 from the field, including two 3-pointers, and a 1-for-2 day at the free-throw line. He also grabbed a couple of rebounds in his 20 minutes on the court, and he didn’t commit any of the Eagles’ 16 turnovers.

His 17 points were six more than the 11 he had at Missouri on Nov. 11.

They bested his 10 points two seasons ago against Pepperdine when he played with the Wolf Pack, the most he scored in any college game to that point.

Powell’s most critical shots came in the last four minutes. For most of the second half, Eastern led – but never comfortably – as the Vikings continued to pound the ball inside against the undersized Eagles by feeding the ball to 6-foot-9 center Tre-Vaughn Minott.

Minott finished 6 of 10 from the field, 4 of 7 at the free-throw line and grabbed 13 rebounds – including nine offensive ones – while blocking four shots, recording three steals and turning the ball over just twice. He finished with 16 points.

Minott’s efforts – as well as those of Isaiah Johnson (16 points), Qiant Myers (12) and Jaylin Henderson (19) – got the Vikings ahead when he tipped in a basket with 5:24 left to give Portland State a 62-61 lead.

Minott hit a free throw – Powell had fouled him – and Johnson stole a bad pass from Nic McClain the next time down before finishing a layup for a 65-61 PSU lead with 4:09 to go.

That’s when Powell hit a corner 3-pointer next to the Eagles’ bench, which, after a Johnson turnover, Powell built on with a driving basket to snatch the lead back (66-65).

“It just was in the flow of the offense,” Powell said of the 3-pointer. “I just felt good.”

The Eagles then switched their defensive strategy, Monson said, trapping the Vikings’ ball screens so that Minott couldn’t so easily get open.

From there, Portland State committed two turnovers and missed all five of its shots. The Vikings’ only scoring came from the free-throw line, and Eastern closed out the victory.

The Eagles were outrebounded 34-31, and they struggled in that regard so much on the first two possessions of the game that Monson burned a timeout with the score 4-2 and came out of it with a new five on the floor.

One of them was junior Elijah Thomas, who matched a season high with nine points and did a bit of everything else, finishing with three rebounds, two steals, a block and an assist.

“He’s a warrior,” Monson said of Thomas. “We didn’t have him when we played them the first time (a 64-59 PSU win). And in these athletic games, he’s a difference maker.

“He and Tyler Powell were both difference makers.”

With the victory, the Eagles improved to 5-7 in the Big Sky and 8-16 overall. They are now within a game and a half of third-place Portland State (14-11, 6-5) – as are four other teams – in the league standings.EWU sophomore Mason Williams followed up his 29-point performance in Thursday’s 83-80 victory over Sacramento State with 17 points, two assists, three turnovers and two steals .

McClain added eight points off the bench, including an acrobatic reverse layup in the final two minutes to give EWU a 70-65 lead.

“We gave up 17 offensive rebounds, we had 11 turnovers in the second half and we fought through it all. That’s what good teams do,” Monson said. “And I’m not saying we’re a good team yet, but we’re taking steps toward being better.”

Women

Eastern Washington 65, Portland State 58: Seniors Peyton Howard (17 points) and Alexis Pettis (14 points) led the Eagles (9-15, 5-7) to a road sweep this week with a victory over the last-place Vikings (4-16, 1-10) in Portland.

The Eagles made 18 of 22 free throws and committed nine turnovers, their fewest since committing eight against the Vikings nine games ago.

EWU freshman Kourtney Grossman recorded her 11th double-double of the season with 12 points and 12 rebounds.

Junior Ella Gallatin added 11 points and a team-high four assists for the Eagles. With six regular-season games remaining, Eastern is sixth in the conference standings.

Eastern Washington hosts Idaho for a doubleheader on Saturday, with the women’s game tipping off at 1 p.m. and the men’s game at 4 p.m. at Reese Court.