CHENEY, Wash. -- Eastern Washington connected on 15-of-27 shots (56%) from the 3-point line on the way to an 87-61 victory over Sacramento State on Saturday afternoon at Reese Court.
The Eagles went 8-of-16 from distance in the first half, and followed that with 7-for-11 in the second half. Conversely, the Hornets, one of the nation's top 3-point shooting teams, connected on just six three balls (second lowest total of the season). EWU also shot 53% from the field, and saw four starters finish with at least 13 points.
Sacramento State, on its first Big Sky Conference road trip of the season, dropped a game Thursday night at Idaho that was decided at the buzzer. The Hornets are now 3-10 overall and 0-2 in the Big Sky. Eastern Washington, the defending Big Sky regular season champion and NIT second round participant, improved to 6-7 and 2-0 in league. The Eagles began Big Sky play on Thursday with a 91-57 home win over a red-hot Portland State team.
The Hornets trailed, 14-13, at the 10:52 mark of the first half, but Eastern Washington went on a 22-2 run spanning five minutes of game clock. During that run, the Eagles scored on nine of 10 possessions, including three 3-pointers.
Sacramento State finished the game shooting 35% (19-54) from the field, 22% (6-27) from the 3-point line and 74% (17-23) from the free throw line. Of the Hornets' 31 rebounds, 11 came on the offensive glass resulting in nine second chance points.
Zee Hamoda led the Hornets in scoring for the fourth time this season, finishing with 16 points and a pair of steals. The sharp shooter buried three more 3-pointers, and is now 11-of-19 from distance over the last three games. He is averaging 13.1 points, and shooting 41% (33-81) from the 3-point line.
Emil Skytta finished with 10 points, two rebounds and two assists.
Duncan Powell had his streak of seven straight games in double figures snapped as he finished with eight points and six rebounds.
Brandon Betson added nine points and a pair of rebounds, and seven-foot center
Bowyn Beatty had nine points and a pair of boards.
Eastern Washington's starting quartet of Cedric Coward, Ethan Price, Casey Jones and Jake Kyman combined to shoot 14-for-23 from distance.
The Hornets will now take a week off from conference play to participate in the inaugural Big Sky-Summit Challenge. Each Big Sky team will play one home game and one road game against teams from the Summit League. Sacramento State will host Kansas City on Wednesday at 6 p.m., before traveling to Minnesota to take on St. Thomas on Saturday at 5 p.m. PT.
