MISSOULA — Eastern Washington completed its men's basketball sweep of Montana with a 90-76 victory on Saturday afternoon, an identical score to Thursday's victory for the Eagles over the Grizzlies as well.
Kim Aiken Jr. finished with 28 points and 10 rebounds for Eastern Washington (12-6, 11-2 Big Sky Conference) while Michael Meadows added 20 and Tanner Groves finished with 14.
Josh Bannan led Montana (9-12, 5-9) with 20 points and nine rebounds and Robby Beasley finished with 16 points. Cameron Parker tallied a double-double for Montana with 12 points and 10 assists. The loss was Montana's third in a row.
Eastern Washington followed a similar trajectory as Thursday's win, as the Eagles jumped out to a 17-3 lead on Montana and kept the pressure on throughout the game. Montana trimmed the deficit to seven after a jumper from Bannan with 9:50 to play in the first half, but Eastern Washington once again showcased that it had too many weapons for the Grizzlies to handle as the Eagles took a 49-27 lead into halftime after a 3-pointer from Meadows, and never looked back.
EWU finished shooting 48.3% from the field and 7 for 16 from 3-point range while Montana finished the game shooting at a 43.9% clip including a 6 for 16 mark from deep. Both teams were sharp from the free throw line as EWU finished 25 for 28 while UM was 20 for 24 in a game that had a combined 45 fouls.
Only two more weeks remain in the Big Sky Conference regular season. Montana is back on the road next week at Idaho State (12-7, 7-3) on Feb. 25 and 27 before hosting Idaho (0-19, 0-16) for a pair of home games on March 4 and 6.
