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Eagles widen lead in Sky with drubbing of Sac State
EWU on verge of title after all goes right, home and away
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Jim Meehan
Staff writer

Eastern Washington had a nice night on its home floor -- as well as other courts around the Big Sky Conference.

All five starters scored in double figures as the Eagles overcame a ragged first half to throttle Sacramento State 83-57 Thursday in front of 2,441 at Reese Court.

The Eagles (13-10, 9-1 Big Sky), winners of a school-record nine straight, have a commanding 31/2-game lead, thanks to losses by second-place Northern Arizona and Idaho State. EWU can clinch no worse than a share of the Big Sky title with a win over NAU at Reese Court Saturday.

If EWU wins and Idaho State loses to visiting Montana, the Eagles claim their first outright Big Sky crown and they would host the conference tournament for the first time.

Not that the Eagles are looking too far down the road. Sophomore guard Danny Pariseau, who scored all 11 of his points in the second half, wasn't aware of the NAU and ISU scores.

When informed of those outcomes, he got a puzzled look. "So what does that mean?" he asked. Told that EWU added another game to its lead, Pariseau said, "That's good. That definitely helps."

So does 54.2 percent shooting, 21 assists and 13 steals. Those numbers were enough to help wash away 21 unsightly turnovers as the Eagles settled down and pulled away from a tenuous 38-35 halftime lead.

EWU outscored the athletic Hornets 45-22 in the second half. Pariseau had nine points in roughly 90 seconds to help EWU hike a 46-39 lead to 55-41.

"Right now Eastern is the best team in the league and you have to be able to match their physical play," said Hornets coach Jerome Jenkins, whose team dropped to 10-12, 4-5.

E. Washington 83, Sac State 57Sacramento State (10-12)_Jones 2-9 3-4 9, Bausley 1-3 1-2 4, Thompkins 3-6 0-1 6, Harris 0-4 0-2 0, Guyton 1-2 0-0 3, Payne 0-0 0-2 0, Pugh 5-9 4-4 14, Freeman 1-5 2-3 5, Dawson 3-15 7-8 14, Diop 0-1 0-0 0, Lange 1-1 0-0 2, Gooding 0-0 0-0 0, Champion 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-55 17-26 57.

Eastern Washington (13-10)_Axton 4-6 2-2 11, Snow 5-12 7-9 18, Nelson 5-7 3-6 13, Merritt 5-9 5-5 15, Pariseau 3-4 4-4 11, Henkel 0-0 1-2 1, McCullough 0-0 0-0 0, Wortham 0-0 0-0 0, Barnard 0-4 0-0 0, Butorac 1-1 4-6 6, Smith 3-5 0-0 6, Nicholas 0-0 2-2 2. Totals 26-48 28-36 83.

Halftime_Eastern Washington 38, Sacramento State 35. 3-Point goals_Sacramento State 6-20 (Jones 2-4, Bausley 1-1, Guyton 1-2, Payne 0-2, Pugh 4-4, Freeman 2-3, Dawson 7-8), Eastern Washington 3-10 (Axton 1-1, Snow 1-3, Merritt 0-3, Pariseau 1-1, Barnard 0-2). Fouled out_None. Rebounds_Sacramento State 29 (Pugh 7), Eastern Washington 40 (Nelson 10). Assists_Sacramento State 7 (Harris 2, Payne 2, Freeman 2), Eastern Washington 21 (Merritt 8). Total fouls_Sacramento State 26, Eastern Washington 23. A_2,441.

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