Eastern Washington overpowers Portland State for 91-57 win in Big Sky opener
Down by 10 points early in its Big Sky Conference opener on Thursday, defending champion Eastern Washington wasn’t particularly panicked during its first timeout.
But Cedric Coward knew that something had to be done.
“We needed a spark,” the EWU junior forward said. “We didn’t come out how we wanted to.”
Over the next 5 minutes, Coward made all five of his shots and scored 13 of Eastern’s 18 points as the Eagles blew past the visiting Portland State Vikings and never looked back, cruising to a 91-57 victory at Reese Court.
The final difference of 34 points was nearly twice as much as Eastern’s most dominant Big Sky win last year, a 19-point win over Sacramento State. Just twice last season did the Eagles hold a conference foe to fewer than 58 points, but doing so to open Big Sky play this season highlighted a big difference in this year’s squad: its defense.
“We have a really talented defensive team,” third-year EWU head coach David Riley said. “You’re not going to be on the court if you can’t guard this year.”
Portland State (9-4, 0-1 Big Sky) hadn’t committed more than 14 turnovers in a game this season, but the Vikings had 21 against the Eagles (5-7, 1-0). The Vikings also had just six assists on their 20 baskets (they shot 40% from the floor), and the Eagles had 10 steals.
Five of those steals were made by junior Dane Erikstrup, setting a career high. Erikstrup also scored 18 points – a season high – and made 6 of 9 shots, including 2 of 3 3-pointers.
“You’re not a good defensive team if your hands are down,” Riley said, “and we are starting to play with our hands up a little bit more. We’re getting more deflections, (and) we’re breaking rhythm a little bit more.”
A big reason for that, Coward said, is the play of senior point guard Ellis Magnuson. He played 26 minutes, second behind Coward (who played 28) on the team, and dished out six assists and grabbed five rebounds while scoring five points. He committed just one turnover.
“That starts with Ellis, too,” Coward said of the team’s steals. “It’s chopping off the head of the snake. The way he’s guarding point guards, not only today, but the last three games, he’s disrupting them and now they’re not throwing comfortable passes, and now all we’ve got to do is do our job and be in our gaps.”
Coward, for his part, led the Eagles with 21 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the floor. He made 3 of 4 3-pointers and is 16 of 45 this season (35.5%) after making 13 of 33 all of last year.
As a team, Eastern made 11 of 19 3s – and 53.4% of its shots overall – while scoring 34 points in the paint and converting the 21 Vikings turnovers into 26 points.
Redshirt freshman LeJuan Watts had 12 points, a team-high nine rebounds, three assists and two steals, and he did not commit a turnover. Junior Ethan Price added 12 points.
The Eagles never led by fewer than 19 points after halftime and pushed their advantage to as many as 37 in the final minute.
“I know we’re going to score points,” Riley said. “We’ve got a bunch of talented shooters and scorers. But this team is the most talented defensive team I’ve coached, and we have the potential to win a championship off that end.”
Portland State’s leading scorer was Isaiah Johnson, who had 10 points. No other Vikings players had more than eight. That included senior Jorell Saterfield, who came in averaging 10 points per game but had just one in 28 minutes against the Eagles. Last year when the teams met in Cheney, Saterfield had 21 points.
The victory was Eastern’s eighth straight over Portland State.
Next up for the Eagles is a home game at 2 p.m. Saturday against Sacramento State (3-9, 0-1), which lost 61-58 to Idaho (7-6, 1-0) on Thursday.
“It’s Dec. 28,” Riley said. “We can’t make too much of this. We’ve got a long way to go. We won a game. We’re 1-0. Now we’ve got to go get a (weekend) sweep.”