Feb. 14—As the lead grew for the Eastern Washington men's basketball team on Saturday, it seemed only reasonable that Weber State — sitting right next to Eastern in the Big Sky standings — would eventually make a run of its own.
But when redshirt sophomore Emmett Marquardt stormed from the 3-point line to the basket and threw down a dunk, giving the Eagles a 26-point lead with 4 minutes still to go in the first half, the pro-Eagles crowd at Reese Court in Cheney erupted, and the Eagles hardly took their foot off the gas after that.
Up by 27 at halftime, the Eagles' lead never dipped below 18 points in the second half, and they cruised to an 84-66 victory over the visiting Wildcats, the fourth consecutive win for Eastern Washington.
"Coach (Dan Monson) just made sure to tell us that we had to throw the first punch," EWU junior forward Alton Hamilton IV said. "Whether that was going to be me scoring or setting other guys up, it was just about us taking the first move and attacking first."
Hamilton scored 14 of his season-high 24 points in the game's first 12 minutes, during which the Eagles built a 34-13 lead. Marquardt hit a 3 and then had his dunk in the minutes that followed, helping Eastern extend its lead to 41-15 with 4:19 to go until halftime.
At the break, Eastern led 51-24, had 26 points in the paint and had made 18 of 25 shots.
"I thought it was the best half we played all year," Monson said.
Eastern finished 60% from the field (30 of 50), matching a season-high set in a 93-89 loss at Denver on Dec. 3. And this performance came on the heels of a 55.8% shooting effort in an 88-75 victory over Idaho State on Thursday.
Riding a four-game winning streak, the Eagles (9-17, 7-6) now sit alone in fourth place in the Big Sky standings, a half game ahead of Weber State (13-14, 7-7) and Northern Colorado (17-10, 7-7), which is the only team in the league currently with a longer winning streak (six games) than the Eagles.
"Your confidence, you have to earn it," Monson said, "and the last two weeks they've got it figured out if they do the little things, winning will take care of itself. Right now we're buying into that."
Two days after they were outrebounded by the Bengals, the Eagles beat the Wildcats on the boards, 30-27. Hamilton and grad senior Kiree Huie each had five, and eight of their teammates grabbed at least one.
Huie finished 8 of 10 from the field and 4 of 6 at the line to score 20 points, and with less pressure to score, redshirt senior guard Isaiah Moses attempted a season-low six shots, making four of them and scoring 11 points.
Weber State played without Jace Whiting (out since Jan. 17) and Trevor Hennig (who played against Idaho on Thursday but not Saturday), two of their top six scorers. Senior Tijan Saine Jr., the Wildcats' leading scorer, finished with 20 points, 14 of which came in the second half.
As a team, the Wildcats shot 38.9% from the field (21 of 54) and made just 3 of 19 3-pointers.
Eastern's victory evened the season series against Weber State, which won their first matchup in Ogden, Utah, 91-80.
The Eagles are on the road next week, at Sacramento State on Thursday and at Big Sky leader Portland State on Saturday.
Women
Weber State 74, Eastern Washington 72 (OT): Eagles guard Ella Gallatin's contested layup bounced off the rim as the buzzer sounded in overtime, and the Eagles absorbed an agonizing loss to the Big Sky Conference's bottom team.
Weber State downed EWU on Saturday at Dee Events Center in Ogden, Utah. Eastern (12-14, 5-8 Big Sky) dropped its third straight game, stumbling against a team it had beaten handily a month ago.
The Wildcats (8-19, 2-12) erased a seven-point, third-quarter deficit before tying the game at 64-64 on Antoniette Emma-Nnopu's 3-pointer with 1:08 remaining. Neither team scored again in regulation. Weber State opened the extra period with back-to-back 3s and preserved the lead until the end, though EWU missed a chance to tie it at the horn.
Gallatin led all players with 26 points and EWU forward Jaecy Eggers had 11 points and 14 rebounds. Eastern shot 35.8% from the field, 9 of 25 on 3s, while the Wildcats shot 45% and 13 of 23 from deep.