Eastern Washington ends season with loss at Fresno State

From staff reports

FRESNO, California – Eastern Washington looked nearly invincible when its shots were falling Thursday against Fresno State.

That shooting touch proved unsustainable, however, and the Eagles’ season came to an end with an 83-74 loss in the opening round of The Basketball Classic.

The Eagles (18-16) made 8 of 9 shots from the floor to open the game and led 22-14 following a Linton Acliese 3-pointer at the 13:41 mark of the first half.

EWU’s fortunes were reversed over the next 12 minutes, however. The Eagles missed 12 of 15 shots in that stretch, allowing the Bulldogs to storm back to seize control.

Fresno State (20-13) led 47-33 at halftime.

Acliese scored to pull EWU within six points (54-48) 5 minutes into the second half, but that was as close as the Eagles came.

Acliese finished with 25 points to lead the Eagles, but he fouled out late in the second half.

Steele Venters added 18 points and made 5 of 10 3-point attempts for the Eagles.

Anthony Holland made four 3-pointers and led the Bulldogs with 18 points. Leo Colimerio added 17 points and nine rebounds, and Orlando Robinson scored 13 points.

The Eagles were hampered by 17 turnovers, and Fresno State turned those miscues into 21 points. EWU scored 10 points off of the Bulldogs’ nine turnovers.

Eastern finished the game shooting 26 for 55 from the field, including 12 for 29 beyond the arc.

Fresno State countered with a 28-for-59 effort from the field.

The Bulldogs made 7 of 26 attempts on 3-pointers.