Eastern Washington gets first road win of season, 65-54 at Sacramento State
Eastern Washington held Sacramento State to 15 points in the first half and cruised to a 65-54 victory Saturday in a men’s basketball game at The Nest in Sacramento, California.
“We’re starting to get better,” EWU head coach Dan Monson said in a postgame radio interview. “We have a ways to go to be in the top of this league, but today was a good start.”
The victory gave the Eagles (6-11, 2-2 Big Sky) a split on the weekend, following a 64-59 loss at Portland State on Thursday.
Against the Hornets (5-11, 1-2), the Eagles made 14 of 27 3-pointers, a better percentage than their overall field-goal shooting of 41% (22 of 54). Redshirt junior Nic McClain was 4 for 4 from 3-point range and finished with 14 points; redshirt freshman Emmett Marquardt made 4 of 6 3s and scored 16 points.
That proved to be plenty of scoring, especially in the first half when the Hornets made only 4 of 26 shots (15.4%), including 1 of 16 3-pointers. They trailed the Eagles 35-15 at halftime.
“(Allowing) 15 points in the first half, we really set a tone,” Monson said.
Eastern’s lead grew to as many as 34 points when sophomore Vice Zanki made a 3 to make it 59-25 with 9:19 remaining, capping a stretch that Monson said was Eastern’s “best basketball.”
After that, Sacramento State scored 11 straight points and then, after an Eagles basket, the next 16 points to make it 61-52. Those runs came against some lineups Monson called “iffy” as the Eagles rode out the end of the game.
When the Hornets got within nine, there were just 33 seconds left in the game. Mason Williams’ four free throws down the stretch kept the Hornets from getting any closer. Williams finished with nine points and was 2 of 13 from the field.
The Eagles committed 20 turnovers, 13 in the second half. But they grabbed seven more rebounds than the Hornets – the Eagles haven’t been outrebounded since a loss to Washington on Dec. 10 – and they held Sacramento State’s leading scorer Jacob Holt to five points, 11 shy of his season average.
The victory was Eastern’s first on the road after eight other attempts. The Eagles won’t be home again until Jan. 23. They play at Idaho on Saturday and at Montana State on Jan. 20.
EWU women
Eastern Washington 89, Sacramento State 80: Junior Ella Gallatin and freshman Jaecy Eggers set career highs in scoring to lead the Eagles (6-10, 2-2 Big Sky) past the Hornets (8-8, 1-2) i at Reese Court in Cheney.
Gallatin made 6 of 11 shots – including 4 of 7 3-pointers – and finished with 23 points; Eggers made a team-high 8 of 20 from the field for 20 points.
Former EWU forward Jaydia Martin led the Hornets with 23 points, and Benthe Versteeg added 21 .
Eastern outrebounded Sacramento State 38-28 and made 19 of 22 free-throw attempts to close out the Hornets in the second half. The Eagles led by three at halftime and used a 14-4 run in the third quarter to pull away.
Eagles senior Peyton Howard scored 18 points two days after scoring the 1,000th point of her college career in Eastern’s win Thursday over Portland State.