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Eastern Washington University Basketball

Cedric Coward’s 24 points lead Eastern Washington win at Weber State 80-78

Eastern Washington’s Ethan Price dunks during Big Sky Conference play against Weber State on Thursday in Ogden, Utah. (Courtesy of EWU Athletics)
Eastern Washington’s Ethan Price dunks during Big Sky Conference play against Weber State on Thursday in Ogden, Utah. (Courtesy of EWU Athletics)

From staff reports

OGDEN, Utah – Cedric Coward scored 24 points, including a late basket to give Eastern Washington the lead in the final minutes, to lift the Eagles past the Weber State Wildcats for an 80-78 Big Sky Conference victory Thursday at Dee Events Center .

It was the sixth straight victory for the Eagles (10-7, 4-0 Big Sky), who are 9-1 since Nov. 29.

“We have a long way to go,” EWU head coach David Riley said in a postgame radio interview, “but this is a big win.”

Coward, a junior, also had a team-high 10 rebounds to record his third double-double of the season. His basket with 1:24 left gave Eastern a 77-75 lead, and from there the Eagles stopped the Wildcats on back-to-back defensive possessions, including a missed layup by Weber State’s Dillon Jones with 13 seconds left.

The Eagles made 3 of 4 free-throw attempts after that to ice the game before Viljami Vartiainen sank a long 3-pointer at the buzzer.

The junior Jones, the Big Sky’s second-leading scorer and its leading rebounder, finished with 14 points, his fewest in seven games. He made 5 of 15 field goals and had a game-high 12 rebounds.

Weber State (11-7, 2-3) led most of the first half and by as many as 13 points (45-32), before the Eagles stormed back. EWU used a 12-0 run to take a 55-52 lead with 15 minutes to go, and 2 minutes later a Jake Kyman 3-pointer gave Eastern its largest lead (61-54).

“(In the second half) we settled in and played like Eastern Washington,” Riley said.

The victory was Eastern’s fifth in its past six games in Ogden and fourth straight in the series overall.

EWU junior Ethan Price scored 22 points, three shy of his season high, making 7 of 10 field goals and 7 of 8 free throws. Eagles junior Casey Jones had 12 points, including a 6-for-6 night at the line. He made the Eagles’ final two free throws with 3 seconds remaining.

The Eagles remained alone in first place in the Big Sky standings, one game ahead of Northern Colorado (10-7, 3-1), which will play the Eagles in Cheney on Thursday.

Eastern will play at Idaho State at 5 p.m. Saturday. Last year the Bengals ended the Eagles’ program-record 18-game winning streak with a 71-63 victory in Pocatello.