Eastern Washington turns in best offensive performance of the season in win over Idaho State 88-75
At the tail end of nonconference play in December, Dan Monson expressed concern about whether Eastern Washington’s schedule had been too difficult to that point, and that it might drain the team’s confidence heading into Big Sky play.
But on Thursday night, after Eastern Washington’s best offensive performance of the season carried it to a third consecutive victory, the Eagles’ head coach said his team is now playing with plenty of confidence.
The trick to maintaining it?
“We have to keep winning,” Monson said.
After a slow start defensively, the Eagles found their footing against the visiting Idaho State Bengals at Reese Court in Cheney, and they controlled the second half to secure an 88-75 victory.
Eastern finished with a season-low six turnovers and matched a season high with 22 assists, helping the Eagles improve to 8-17 overall and 6-6 in Big Sky play. Redshirt senior Jojo Anderson had nine of those assists, a career-high, and added 11 points.
“I think the big thing is my teammates did a good job of running the floor,” Anderson said. “Coach (Monson) did a good job this week emphasizing that if our bigs run, we’re going to be really good, and we had all the guys ready to shoot.”
Eastern’s 55.8% shooting was its highest percentage of the Big Sky season and second-highest overall, behind a 59.7% effort in a 102-97 overtime loss at Colorado on Nov. 8. And the post duo of grad senior Kiree Huie (8 of 10 for 18 points) and junior Alton Hamilton IV (5 of 8 for 18 points) was a big part of that.
“It adds a whole different aspect to our offense,” redshirt senior Isaiah Moses said of the team’s post play. “They’re super hard to stop.”
Hamilton and Huie also combined for five assists and just two turnovers. Moses, the team’s scoring leader, finished with a team-high 19 points, and for the first time this season he did not commit a turnover.
The Eagles also made 24 of 26 free throws – Hamilton was 8 of 9 at the line – helping them close the game out during the second half, when they never led by fewer than eight points.
“Offensively these guys really shared the ball today and got good shots and played inside out,” Monson said.
The Eagles’ coach wasn’t without criticism. He pointed to the Bengals’ 31-21 advantage in rebounding, specifically their 13 offensive rebounds, as a problem.
“To give up that many offensive rebounds at home, it’s going to be our demise if our offense isn’t clicking as it was today,” Monson said. “When we don’t (rebound), we’re playing with fire.”
Idaho State (10-16, 3-10) has lost eight games in a row, dating back to an 84-66 loss to Eastern Washington on Jan. 17 in Pocatello. The Bengals had four players reach double digits in scoring on Thursday, led by grad senior Connor Hollenbeck, who had 16 points.
Now fifth in the Big Sky standings, Eastern hosts fourth-place Weber State (13-13, 7-6) at 2 p.m. Saturday at Reese Court. The Wildcats beat the Eagles 91-80 on Jan. 15 in Ogden, Utah.
Women
Idaho State 77, Eastern Washington 65: Eastern Washington lost step with a surging Idaho State team after halftime, and the Bengals cruised to their fifth straight win, defeating the Eagles on Thursday in Big Sky action at Reed Gym in Pocatello, Idaho.
EWU (12-13, 5-7 Big Sky) rallied from down 10 in the second quarter, closing to within 31-28 at the half. But the Bengals (17-7, 10-3), the conference’s third-place team, started the third quarter hot and took a 14-point lead with a 9-0 run. The Eagles closed the gap to five points early in the fourth, but couldn’t get closer.
EWU guards Ella Gallatin and Elyn Bowers scored 20 and 17 points, respectively. Forward Kourtney Grossman tallied 15 points and 11 rebounds for her 16th double-double of the season.
Eastern shot 38.5% from the field and 8 of 24 on 3s, and committed 23 turnovers. The Bengals shot 44% overall, 6 of 20 on 3s, and had just five turnovers.