Eastern Washington hangs on to beat Northern Colorado 77-74, remain unbeaten in Big Sky play

It was an inbounds pass Eastern Washington practices from time to time, and both LeJuan Watts and head coach David Riley made clear that on the play Watts is never supposed to be option No. 1, 2 or 3.

But as Ethan Price surveyed Northern Colorado’s defense, he decided otherwise.

With 5.7 seconds left, Price heaved an inbounds pass from one end of the court to the free-throw line at the other, and Watts grabbed it ahead of two Northern Colorado players to secure the ball and the Eagles’ 77-74 victory on Thursday night at Reese Court in Cheney.

“Coach Riley had us in the huddle, and he said the last option was to throw it long,” Watts said. “So we drew it up, and everyone was setting screens, but he said apparently (Watts) was the first option for Ethan.”

That inbounds pass was preceded 3 seconds earlier by a missed free throw from Northern Colorado forward Saint Thomas – an 85.5% free-throw shooter – who could have drawn the Bears within one had he made both ends of a 1-and-1.

But he missed the front, and EWU junior Dane Erikstrup got the rebound and called a timeout.

Eastern won for the eighth consecutive time and improved to 6-0 in the Big Sky, 12-7 overall. The loss dropped Northern Colorado to 4-2 in the conference (11-8).

Thomas, the reigning Big Sky Player of the Week and the conference’s leading scorer, finished with 20 points – right at his average – on 7-of-15 shooting from the field. He also had 10 rebounds to secure his 10th double-double, second most in the Big Sky.

But the Eagles made him work for it. Thomas picked up three fouls in the first 16 minutes and had just five points at halftime.

“A big key for us is making guys work,” Riley said. “We’re an offense that is very evenly distributed, and so we know we have to attack guys like Saint Thomas, guys like Jaron Rillie, and make them work on the defensive end (because) it’s going to help us down the stretch. It’s going to help them miss shots.

“If you’ve got to wrestle with Cedric (Coward) and LeJuan (Watts) down in the post for 40 minutes, that’s tiring.”

Thomas got 10 quick points to start the second half as the Bears kept the Eagles within single digits. But after he picked up his fourth foul with 7 minutes to go in the game, the Eagles went after him as the Eagles maintained their lead.

Sometimes that meant going right at Thomas. Other times it meant exploiting Eastern’s overall size advantage.

“They had two solid big dudes, but usually we have two big dudes also,” Watts said, “so I would be the third one.”

That meant Watts worked against one of the Bears’ smaller forwards or sometimes a guard, which helped Watts make 6 of 8 shots for 12 points. Erikstrup was less efficient, shooting 5 for 13 from the field, but he made 6 of 6 free throws and scored a team-high 16 points.

The Eagles had a 33-8 advantage in bench points and committed just nine turnovers, their third fewest of the season.

That helped Eastern overcome one of its worst shooting nights from 3-point range (6 of 26) this season.

Rillie, a senior, led all scorers with 26 points on 10-of-17 shooting from the field. He was one of four Bears starters with at least four fouls.

Aside from Watts and Erikstrup, Eastern had three players in double figures: Casey Jones had 13 points, while Price and senior Jake Kyman had 11.

Coward, EWU’s leading scorer this season, had seven points, including a pair of free throws with 12 seconds left that increased the Eagles’ lead to 77-74.

Eastern hosts Northern Arizona (10-10, 3-3) on Saturday at 1 p.m. – an hour earlier than usual – at Reese Court.