Eagles Claim #BigSkyMBB Championship with 65-55 Victory Over Montana State
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BOISE, Idaho (March 13, 2021) – For the third-straight year, the Eastern Washington Eagles found themselves in the Big Sky Men’s Basketball title game, and for the third time in program history, the Eagles came away victorious. No. 2 seeded Eagles faced off against No. 5 seeded Montana State Saturday night and claimed a 65-55 victory.
“Our team stuck together,” said Eastern Washington head coach Shantay Legans, “They had to play a tough physical game that, early in the season, people would say we couldn’t do it, but it showed tonight. We held a good team to 55 points, we outrebounded that team, and we did everything we needed to do to win the game.”
The Eagles came ready to win and asserted themselves early in the game. EWU never trailed and Montana State never came closer than three points when the score was 5-2 in the opening minutes.
EWU’s Jack Perry opened the game on a 5-0 run with a three-pointer and driving layup two minutes into the game to put the first points on the board.
A 15-1 run in the first half propelled EWU to a 20-3 lead over the Bobcats that set the tone for the rest of the game.
By the 7:52 mark, Eastern Washington had built a 20-point lead that would prove difficult to overcome for the Bobcats.
However, MSU was not going down without a fight.
With 1:23 remaining in the first half, the Bobcats went on a 7-3 run and hit their last three field goals to go into the locker room down 38-24.
EWU’s Michael Meadows led the Eagles at halftime with nine points and three assists, while Perry had eight points on 3-of-3 shooting.
Jubrile Belo led Montana State with 6 points and four rebounds at the half.
Defense was key for Eastern Washington as the Eagles held MSU to just 33 percent from the field and 0-of-10 from three-point range in the first half.
Coming out the break, EWU maintained a significant double-digit lead over the Bobcats until MSU’s Nick Gazelas grabbed the defensive rebound and pulled up from behind the arc to cut the lead to 51-41 with 9:19 on the clock.
The Bobcats went on a 6-2 run with 6:46 left when a layup and free throw by Abdul Mohamed brought MSU to within single digits for the first time since the opening minutes of the first half.
EWU scored its final points on free throws to keep Montana State at arm’s length and secure the Eagles’ third NCAA tournament berth in program history and first since 2015.
The Groves brothers led EWU once again as Jacob Groves had 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting and Tanner Groves had a double-double with 14 points and 14 rebounds. T. Groves was named the Big Sky Men’s Basketball All-Tournament MVP, while brother J. Groves joined him on the All-Tournament team.
Mohamed was the leading scorer for MSU with 15 points and added eight rebounds and three steals for the Bobcats. Montana State’s Jubrile Belo and Amin Adamu were also named to the All-Tournament team after helping lead MSU to its first conference title game since 2009. Belo finished with a double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds on Saturday, while Adamu added six points against the Eagles after his 29-point performance on Friday.
Northern Colorado’s Bodie Hume and Southern Utah’s John Knight III rounded out the All-Tournament team for their performance over the course of the tournament.
Eastern Washington will learn its opening round opponent Sunday when the NCAA Selection Show airs on CBS at 6 p.m. ET.
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2021 Big Sky All-Tournament Team
Tanner Groves, Eastern Washington (MVP)
Jacob Groves, Eastern Washington
Jubrile Belo, Montana State
Amin Adamu, Montana State
John Knight III, Southern Utah
Bodie Hume, Northern Colorado