CHENEY, Wash. – Eastern Washington hit its stride late in the first half and carried it over to the second half as the Eagles earned a 74-49 Big Sky Conference men’s basketball win on Saturday, Feb. 8, over Montana State at Reese Court.
An Amin Adamu dunk at the 7 minute, 45-second mark of the first half put MSU down 15-11 despite a 2-of-20 start from the floor. That’s when Eastern Washington began its offensive spree.
The Eags closed the first half on a 20-5 run and led 35-16 at the break. MSU missed 20 of its first 24 shots and ended the first half 6-of-30.
MSU’s Harald Frey got the scoring started in the second half with a layup, but EWU pulled away by following the Frey bucket with a 14-point run of its own.
Frey finished with four points, his season-low. He has been held under 10 points each of the last two games, marking the second and third times this season the All-Big Sky senior did not reach double figures scoring.
The Eags improved to 16-7 overall and 9-3 in conference play. MSU fell to 12-11 overall and 6-6 in the Big Sky.
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“I thought they came out with an edge tonight,” Montana State head coach Danny Sprinkle said of EWU. “After Thursday night (a 92-82 Montana win over EWU in Missoula), Eastern came out hungry with a point to prove. And they proved it.
“We didn’t’ match the intensity. Once we weren’t making shots early – credit to them their defense was outstanding, especially in the first half – they made it really tough on Harald and they were really contesting shots at the rim.”
Eastern Washington went 15 of 31 from the floor in the second half and finished shooting 44.4 percent from the field. EWU hit 13 3-pointers in the contest, the most by an MSU opponent this season.The Eags had 12 different players on the scoreboard as Mason Peatling scored a team-high 19 points and Tanner Groves joined him in double digits with 16, including hitting 4-of-5 shots from beyond the arc.
Peatling had 10 rebounds to complete a double-double, while Kim Aiken Jr. had nine rebounds.
Freshman Caleb Bellach led MSU with a career-high 10 points. Borja Fernandez had a team-high eight rebounds and Mychael Paulo recorded four assists. The Bobcats shot a season-low 22.4 percent from the field.
The Montana State men’s basketball team returns to Bozeman for its next two contests. The Bobcats host Idaho State at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 13, then take on Weber State at 6 p.m. on Feb. 15 in Worthington Arena.
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