Men’s basketball falls on the road to Eastern Washington

The men’s basketball team suffered its first conference loss to the Eastrn Washington Eagles 88-79 Saturday night.

The Eagles shot 58.8 percent from the floor for the game, while the Vikings were only able to shoot 48.1 percent against the grudging defense of the home-favored Eagles.

“We need to work on our man-to-man defense, but they shot the ball really well,” freshman forward Billy Feeney said.

Although Portland State shot a commendable 61.5 percent for the second half to whittle away at a 16 point deficit going into the locker room, the Eagles shot a tremendous 76.2 percent in the second half alone and hit 16-21 from the field. But the Vikings were able to out-rebound Eastern Washington, 28-23.

The Eagles were led by two players off the bench, Alvin Snow and Jason Humbert, who scored 18 and 19 points respectively. The pair combined to hit 12 of 16 shots from the field (75 percent).

“We did a good job on the boards, and we shot the ball pretty well, but we had a lot of turnovers,” Feeney said.

The Vikings did manage to cut into the Eagle lead in the second half, under Jeb Ivey’s career high 21 points. Ivey shot 5 for 8 from beyond the arc, and 6 for 11 from the floor. Two other starters, Anthony Lackey and Aaron Fitzgerald, each pitched in with 16 points. Freshman Billy Feeney, who got his fourth start of the season, had a game-high seven rebounds.

The Eagles’ record now stands at 8-9, 2-1 in Big Sky play. The Vikings settle for a 6-10, 0-3 tally for conference. The Vikings look for their first conference win on Friday as they take on Idaho State in Idaho. Tip-off is set for 6:05 p.m.