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Eastern Washington University Basketball

Former Cougar Oscar Cluff burns Eastern Washington in loss at South Dakota State 74-53

By Dan Thompson The Spokesman-Review

BROOKINGS, South Dakota – The Eastern Washington men’s basketball team made a season-low 16 field goals on Saturday in a 74-53 loss at South Dakota State.

It was the Eagles’ most lopsided loss of the season.

Senior Andrew Cook was the only EWU player to reach double digits in scoring, with 13 points. Eastern made more free throws (17 of 22 attempts) than it did field goals (16 of 44).

South Dakota State (8-3) made 26 of 64 field goal attempts and dominated in rebounding, 47-23. Oscar Cluff scored a game-high 19 points for the Jackrabbits on 8-of-9 shooting. He also had 11 rebounds.

The Eagles (2-8), the Big Sky Conference leader in steals per game (8.6), were still scrappy defensively, with 11 steals and a blocked shot. Cook had four of those steals and now has 18, fifth-most in the Big Sky.

But a game after making a season-high 12 3-pointers in an 87-81 victory over North Dakota, Eastern made a season-low 4 of 22 3-point attempts against SDSU, and no Eagles player made more than the four shots made by Cook.

Eastern scored the game’s first five points, but once SDSU took a 9-7 lead it never gave it back. The Eagles didn’t score during the final 5 and a half minutes of the first half, which ended with the Jackrabbits ahead 42-22.

In the second half, the Eagles didn’t score until nearly 2 and a half minutes in when Emmett Marquardt’s layup made the score 46-24. Eastern trailed by double digits the rest of the way.

Eastern is on the road again Tuesday against Washington and then has an 11 day layoff before its next game on Dec. 21 at home against Lincoln University.

Women’s basketball

North Dakota State 74, Eastern Washington 47: Peyton Howard’s game-high 18 points were not nearly enough for the Eagles women’s basketball team in a home loss to North Dakota State on Saturday at Reese Court in Cheney.

The Eagles (2-7 overall) shot 27.5% from the field (19 of 69) and made 3 of 19 3-point shots. The Bison (6-3), meanwhile, made 26 of 48 shots (54.2%), the best percentage by an EWU opponent this season.