The Eastern Washington Eagles snapped a five-game win streak by the Vandal men’s basketball team in a pivotal early season conference game Saturday.
The Eagles rode a hot shooting streak to claim a 74-60 victory and hand the Vandals the team’s first Big Sky Conference loss of the season.
“It was a really solid win and we did a good job of imposing our will on Idaho,” said Eastern Washington head coach Jim Hayford. “If you’re going to beat Idaho, you’re going to have to shoot the ball well from outside. We had to have a good shooting night and we did that.”
Eastern Washington (7-8 overall, 1-2 Big Sky) began the first half of play on fire, shooting 15-25 from the field and converting 10 of 15 attempts from behind the arc.
Idaho (10-6 overall, 2-1 Big Sky) struggled with offensive production early in the first half, falling behind 14-4 after missing seven straight shots from the field.
Senior guard Austin McBroom led the way for the Eagles with 17 first-half points and four 3-pointers. McBroom also added four assists for Eastern Washington.
“We thought that Austin McBroom was going to be a tough matchup for them, so we put the ball in his hands and Austin played outstanding,” said Hayford.
Juniors Julian Harrell and Felix Von Hofe scored 10 points apiece in the first half for the Eagles, while senior forward Venky Jois collected five rebounds.
Sophomore guard Victor Sanders scored eight points for the Vandals in the first half, while sophomore forward Arkadiy Mkrtychyan added five points and five rebounds for Idaho.
The Vandals struggled offensively throughout the first half, shooting 33 percent from the field and converting one three-point attempt.
Eastern Washington ended the half with a 46-30 lead.
The Vandals entered the second half with a seven-minute scoring drought, as the Eagles went on an 8-0 run to take a 54-30 lead.
Junior guard Perrion Callandret responded for the Vandals by sinking a three-pointer as he was fouled, but Von Hofe answered for Eastern Washington with his fifth 3-pointer of the game to regain a 23-point lead for the Eagles.
The Vandals went on a 12-2 run in the second half as part of a late offensive push, but the effort was not enough as the Eagles claimed a convincing 74-60 victory.
Sanders finished as the leading scorer for Idaho with 18 points, while redshirt freshman forward Nate Sherwood finished with 12.
McBroom led all scorers with 26 points, shooting 6-10 from three-point range. Von Hofe added 19 points and five 3-pointers for the Eagles, while Jois finished with eight rebounds.
“It was a really unique college basketball atmosphere today,” said Hayford. “And I give a lot of respect to Idaho because they are a solid program.”
Idaho is scheduled to face Northern Arizona at home Jan. 14 at 7 p.m.
Josh Grissom can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @GoshJrissom