Eastern Washington played some pretty good basketball over the conclusion of its whirlwind tour across a large part of the U.S. last week.
They just didn’t do enough of it as the Eagles fell to Pac-12 California 78-67 Friday, Dec. 19 in Berkley and 76-52 Tuesday, Dec. 16 at Sam Houston State University of the Southland Conference.
The Eagles, who fell to 8-4 in their nonconference schedule, played well against 10-1 Cal, a team that is off to its best start in over 50 years. Eastern led at one point at Haas Pavilion by seven points, 21-14, with 10 minutes, 28 seconds remaining in the first half.
Venky Jois connected on a 3-point shot with 6:34 remaining in the first half giving Eastern a 24-21 lead. That was the Eagles final field goal of the half. The Bears went on a 16-0 run that produced a 37-26 halftime lead.
Eastern turned it around with a 9-0 run of their own to open the second half and closed the gap to four points, 39-35 with 3:30 gone. But Cal responded with their own 9-0 burst that upped their lead to 11 at 60-49 and that set the tone the remainder of the way for the Bears’ seventh consecutive victory.
“Our hats are off to Cal,” EWU head coach Jim Hayford said. “They are a good team and we played them tough, but they didn’t put us away at the half. We came back and really battled.”
But Eastern tried to stage the upset versus Cal on the shoulders of just two players, Tyler Harvey and Jois. Those two were also the scoring leaders versus Sam Houston.
Harvey had a season-high 31 points on 11 of 17 shots from the field, including 6 of 9 3-point attempts. Jois had 23 points and sits just a point away from the 1,000-point milestone.
As a team, the Eagles struggled hitting just 43 percent from the field. Cal connected on 57 percent.
Harvey scored 26 to lead the Eagles Wednesday in Hunstville, Texas while Jois added 13 in a game where Eastern led 17-7 with 12:25 to play in the first half.
Tied at 25 with 6:07 left on a steal and layin by Harvey, Eastern went 4:42 without a field goal as the Bearkats forged a 42-31 halftime lead following a 17-6 run. In the second half, Eastern was within 47-39 with 13:58 to play, but went through a 6:44 stretch without a field goal and fell behind 62-41 as the Bearkats went on their own 15-2 run.
“In the preseason, nobody wants one of these kind of games, but maybe everybody needs one as a reminder,” Hayford said.
Eastern shot just 36.7 percent on the night while SHSU made 46 percent form the field.
Eastern opens Big Sky play at home Jan. 1 against defending conference champions, Weber State at 2:05 p.m.
Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected].
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