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Eastern Washington University Basketball

Northern Arizona knocks out Eastern Washington 66-53, Eagles’ third straight Big Sky Tournament loss

Eastern Washington guard Andrew Cook drives to the basket over the defense of Northern Arizona forward Diego Campisano during Saturday’s Big Sky Conference Tournament game in Boise. (Steve Conner/For The Spokesman-Review)
By Dan Thompson The Spokesman-Review

The Eastern Washington men’s basketball team entered this week’s Big Sky Tournament as the No. 8 seed, seven lower than it had in the previous two years.

But unlike the last two appearances, Eastern Washington’s opening-game loss wasn’t so surprising.

Playing Northern Arizona for a third time this season, the Eagles lost for a third time , 66-53 to the tournament’s No. 7 seed at Idaho Central Arena in Boise.

The Lumberjacks (18-14) will play the No. 2-seeded Montana Grizzlies (22-9) in the second round on Sunday.

It marks the third consecutive year in which Eastern has lost its first game at the Big Sky Tournament, although in the previous two it did so as the No. 1 seed, including a buzzer-beating loss to NAU in 2023.

The Lumberjacks handled the Eagles more soundly this time. They outrebounded the Eagles – as seven of Eastern’s last eight opponents had – 35-26.

NAU shot better: 44% to the Eagles’ 38%. And the Lumberjacks led the entire second half, pushing their lead to 10 midway through .

“Basketball is a game of runs, and this team has struggled all year to seize their moment to get runs and get up eight or 10,” EWU head coach Dan Monson said. “We had a lot of chances early in the game to take control of it but we would turn it over.”

First-team All-Big Sky player Trenton McLaughlin scored 17 points for the Lumberjacks, who also got nine points and 12 rebounds from second-team selection Carson Towt.

Sophomore Mason Williams scored a game-high 20 points for the Eagles – who were shut out of the Big Sky awards on Friday – on 8-of-17 shooting from the field. For the sixth time in 26 games this season, Williams didn’t attempt a free throw.

Senior Andrew Cook, Eastern’s top scorer this season, played 34 minutes but was held to nine points, only the sixth time this year he’s failed to score in double figures.

The Eagles committed 12 turnovers but had a season-low seven assists.

Eastern finished the season with six consecutive losses and a record of 10-22.

The winner of Sunday’s game between NAU and Montana won’t play again until Tuesday, when it will face the winner of Monday’s game between No. 3 Portland State (19-12) and No. 6 Idaho (13-18).