Eastern Washington remains winless on the road with 91-80 loss to Weber State
OGDEN, Utah — Eastern Washington relinquished a 10-point, second-half lead as the Weber State Wildcats men’s basketball team rolled past the Eagles for a 91-80 victory on Thursday night at the Dee Events Center .
The Eagles are still winless on the road this season, and they fell to 3-14 overall and 1-3 in Big Sky play. The Wildcats (11-8, 4-1) won their fourth game in a row.
Without redshirt sophomore forward Emmett Marquardt, who sat on the bench with a cast on his right hand, the Eagles leaned on grad senior Kiree Huie, who played a season-high 31 minutes and scored 21 points for the first time this season. He made 10 of 12 shots from the field but also had nine turnovers.
Leading scorer Isaiah Moses added 20 for the Eagles, but they came on 4-of-17 shooting and a 12-of-12 night at the free-throw line. Redshirt senior Tyler Powell started for the first time this season and matched a career-high with 17 points. Powell made 4 of 5 3s; the rest of his teammates went a combined 0-for-9 from such range.
But the Eagles couldn’t get the necessary stops on defense, especially over the final 15 minutes, when the Wildcats scored 47 of their points. That helped them erase Eastern’s 54-44 lead, which fell away for the final time when Malek Gomma hit a free throw with 10 minutes left in the game to give Weber State a 59-58 lead.
Four Weber State players scored in double digits, led by redshirt junior guard Tijan Saine Jr. The former Western Washington player finished with 23 points, his fifth 20-point game of the season.
Weber State shot 47.5% overall and made 24 of 30 free-throw attempts. Eastern made 48.2% of its shots and 22 of 27 free throws.
The Wildcats converted the Eagles’ 15 turnovers into 26 points and had a 37-31 advantage in rebounding.
Eastern will play at Idaho State (10-8, 3-2) at 3 p.m. Saturday in Pocatello.
Women
Eastern Washington 73, Weber State 58: Eastern Washington forwards Jaecy Eggers and Kourtney Grossman combined for 34 points and 25 rebounds, and the Eagles powered past Big Sky Conference foe Weber State on Thursday night at Reese Court in Cheney.
Eggers, a sophomore, tallied 20 points and 11 rebounds while Grossman, a sophomore who leads the nation in rebounding average, recorded 14 points and 14 boards. Guard Ella Gallatin added 18 points and six rebounds.
EWU (9-8, 2-2 Big Sky) shot 41.3% from the field compared to 36.8% for Weber State (6-12, 0-5), and the hosts outrebounded the Wildcats by 21.
The Eagles used a 17-0 run that started late in the first quarter to open up an eight-point lead early in the second, and they led the rest of the way, holding off a fourth-quarter Weber State rally.