Dane Erikstrup stays hot, leads EWU past North Dakota State 91-83; Eagles go above .500 for first time this season

The North Dakota State Bison could be forgiven if they didn’t know quite what Dane Erikstrup was about to do on Saturday at Reese Court.

Last year when these men’s basketball teams met in Cheney, Erikstrup played 10 minutes, missed four shots, grabbed four rebounds, and Steele Venters carried the Eagles to victory with 33 points.

But this time against the Bison, Erikstrup demonstrated for the second game in a row how dangerous a scorer he can be.

The 6-foot-11 junior scored 27 points – including a streak of 11 straight early in the second half – to guide the Eagles past the Bison 91-83, as Eastern Washington closed out its nonconference schedule and its two games in the Big Sky–Summit League Challenge.

Erikstrup has scored 59 points in his past two games and his scoring average of 12.3 points per game ranks second on the team behind junior Cedric Coward (13.8 per game).

“He’s always been one of our leading scorers, but since that Stanford game (on Nov. 17), his mindset’s been incredible,” EWU head coach David Riley said. “He’s been taking great shots, he’s been using his physicality a lot more, he’s making simple plays, his assists have gone up, his turnovers have gone down, and now the shots are starting to fall because he’s getting more comfortable.”

In that game against Stanford, Erikstrup missed all four of his shots, had two turnovers and played 13 minutes, second fewest of the season.

But as the first or second player off the bench, Erikstrup’s role has continued to increase – and this week he’s been sharp from 3-point range. In Thursday’s 93-79 win at South Dakota, Erikstrup made 11 of 19 shots overall and 7 of 12 3s, scoring a career-high 32 points.

On Saturday, he made 9 of 12 shots and 6 of 7 3s. He and Coward are tied for No. 2 in made 3s on the team (behind Jake Kyman, who has 35) with 26 apiece.

“I was trying to force it early,” Erikstrup said of the November conversation. “The game has just started to come to me easily. I feel like I’m finally, slowly, getting the hang of it and turning it on.”

Against the Bison (8-8), the Eagles (8-7) again demonstrated their scoring depth and also their ability to play shutdown defense – for a half, anyway.

With Ellis Magnuson applying heavy pressure to NDSU’s guards, the Bison made 12 of 28 shots in the first half, including some that were off-balance or just plain difficult. LeJuan Watts’ layup just before the buzzer gave Eastern a 43-32 halftime lead.

But the second half was another story.

The Bison made 18 of 30 shots after halftime – many of them wide open – and did what Eastern’s previous three opponents hadn’t. They stuck around.

Damari Wheeler-Thomas’ second-chance jump shot with 7:03 left made the score 68-66, capping a stretch in which NDSU got close to – but never quite past – the Eagles.

Soon after, Magnuson picked up his fourth foul, forcing him to sit with the Eagles up 73-69. It was at that point the Eagles went big and exploited their size advantage, using a lineup of players no shorter than 6-foot-6.

Redshirt freshman Watts got a basket inside, and after NDSU answered, junior Casey Jones drove for two and gave the Eagles a 77-71 lead. The Bison never got closer than five points.

“We’re a positionless team, so when Ellis went out, we were looking for the five guys who had the most rhythm going at that point, and it just happened to be more bigger guys,” Riley said.

“We have guys who can handle (the ball). You see Dane and (junior) Ethan (Price) bring the ball up lots of times.”

Price finished with 15 points, Watts scored 13 (two shy of his season high) and Coward finished with 16 points – including a late 3 to clinch the game – to go with five rebounds, five assists and zero turnovers.

NDSU’s second-half charge was led by senior Boden Skunberg, who made 8 of 9 shots, hit 5 of 5 free throws and scored 23 points.

Sophomore guard Tajavis Miller also had 23 points on 9-of-13 shooting from the field.

The Bison made 12 of 23 3-point attempts, the best percentage (52.2) by an EWU opponent all season.

They also were just the third team to shoot better than 50% overall (51.7%) against the Eagles this season.

“I do think our first-half defense was good; 32 points was probably more than they should have scored based on how well we defended them,” Riley said. “But that second half can’t happen. Defense should be a consistent thing, and we’ve got to figure that out.”