Eastern Washington loses battle with Washington 73-66

From staff reports

SEATTLE – The Washington Huskies scored 14 of the final 18 points Thursday to zip past Eastern Washington 73-66 in nonconference men’s play at Alaska Airlines Arena.

Jake Kyman’s 3-pointer allowed the Eagles to cut their deficit to 69-66 with 1 minute, 20 seconds to go. Washington made its final four free-throw attempts and the Eagles missed a pair of 3-point attempts on one possession and committed a turnover on the other.

Junior Dane Erikstrup led Eastern (4-7) with 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field, including 3 of 5 on 3-pointers. Junior forwards Ethan Price and Casey Jones added 12 and 10 points, respectively, for EWU. Redshirt freshman LeJuan Watts added nine points and 11 rebounds.

Neither team shot well from the free-throw line; the Eagles made 11 of 20 attempts and the Huskies (8-3) made 19 of 29. The Eagles finished with a 34-32 edge in rebounding and scored 40 points in the paint.

But the Eagles made just 5 of 22 3-pointers while UW hit 8 of 20. Washington never led by more than nine, the Eagles never by more than five.

“Our goal has been to play our best ball in March,” EWU head coach David Riley said in a postgame radio interview, “and we’re starting to get there.”

UW’s Keion Brooks Jr. led all scorers with 20 points.

The loss was the Eagles’ fifth this year to a Pac-12 opponent. Eastern opens Big Sky play at home on Thursday against Portland State.

“I’m excited to play them,” Riley said of the Vikings. “They’re playing good ball.”