Sports Briefs

BASKETBALL

Eagle rally falls short against Cal Poly

CHENEY — Eastern Washington (1-3) mounted a late second-half comeback but fell short against Cal Poly (3-2), losing 82-78 Nov. 17 at Reese Court.

Nic McClain was a standout for the Eagles, setting a new career high with 28 points, surpassing his previous best of 16.

The Mustangs led 36-35 at halftime but Cal Poly came out of the break with urgency, going on an 8-0 run to open the second half.

Coupled with an Eastern 3-minute scoring drought and another 9-0 run from the visitors extended their lead to 22 points.

Eastern responded with a rally of their own, using a 10-0 run to close the gap. Andrew Cook hit two free throws to pull the Eagles within six with 1:45 remaining.

The Eagles continued to chip away with McClain’s layup to make it a 81-78 game with 37 seconds remaining but that’s a close as it got.

The Eagles will face off against Washington State and former coach David Riley Nov. 21 at 6:30 p.m. at the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena.

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Cook named Big Sky player of the week

FARMINGTON, Utah – Eastern Washington University guard Andrew Cook has been named the Big Sky Conference Men’s Basketball Player of the Week, the conference announced Nov. 12. This marks Cook’s first career Player of the Week honor.

Cook has averaged 18.7 points per game with a shooting percentage of .676. In Eastern’s 93-86 victory over Seattle U, Cook exploded for 25 points, shooting .692 from the field.

Against Missouri in an 84-77 loss, Cook scored 24 points on .846 shooting, while also recording four steals and three rebounds.

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Eastern women drop pair to Washington, Portland

CHENEY — Eastern Washington watched an early lead melt away Nov. 17 at Reese Court in a 74-62 loss to West Coast Conference, University of Portland.

Earlier, Eastern traveled to Seattle where they lost to Big-10 Washington 83-59, Nov. 14.

Against Portland the Eagles led after the first quarter but the Pilots separated from Eastern in the fourth with a 21-10 edge.

Turnovers were an issue for Eastern, committing 23 and leading to 23 points for the Pilots.

The Eagle offense continued to run through Peyton Howard as the graduate transfer finished with 16 points.

In Seattle, leading 38-34 at halftime, the Huskies outscored the Eagles 45-25 to put the game away.

Howard turned in another 20-point game while Alexis Pettis added 13 more off the bench.

Eastern travels to Honolulu next for the Bank of Hawai’i Classic, hosted by the University of Hawai’i. EWU plays Saint Mary’s on Friday, Nov. 22 and then Hawai’i on Sunday, Nov. 24.

CHENEY — Eastern Washington watched an early lead melt away Nov. 17 at Reese Court in a 74-62 loss to West Coast Conference, University of Portland.

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CROSS COUNTRY

Eagles cap off XC season at NCAA West Regionals

COLFAX, Wash. — The Eastern Washington cross country teams had a strong showing at the NCAA West Regional.

The men’s team finished 17th with 534 points, marking their best finish since 2007, when they placed 14th. The women’s team also had a solid performance, finishing 21st with 584 points, their best result since 2017, when they also finished in 21st.

Evan Peters was the top finisher for the Eagles, placing 90th with a time of 31 minutes, 10.20 seconds. Marcus Lemon finished just behind him in 99th with a time of 31:23.20. Other scorers for Eastern included Noah Hasselblad (107th), Austin Steed (114th), and Owen Higgins (134th).

Jasmin Muneton was the top finisher for the Eagles on the women’s side, placing 106th out of 262 competitors with a time of 21:34.70. Jenni Bissell followed in 113th with a time of 21:41.60. Other scorers for EWU included Cassidy Walchak-Sloan (116th), Nattie Ruzauskas (127th), and Rylee Brandon (132nd).

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VOLLEYBALL

Eagles soar past Vandals

CHENEY — Eastern Washington (12-12, 8-6) completed the season sweep over Idaho (1-24, 0-14), as they secured the 3-0 victory, Nov. 15 at Reese Court.

The Eagles captured the match with set wins of 25-4, 25-11 and 25-20 in their final home match of the season.

–Paul DeLaney is an award-winning sports writer at the Cheney Free Press, [email protected]