Saturday, February 16th, 10:05 p.m. (et).

FACTS & STATS: Site: Reese Court (6,000) -- Cheney, Washington. Television: None. Home Record: ISU 6-4, EWU 7-5. Away Record: ISU 3-10, EWU 3-10. Neutral Record: ISU 0-1, EWU 0-2. Conference Record: ISU 6-5, EWU 5-8. Series Record: Eastern Washington leads, 27-24.

GAME NOTES: The Eastern Washington Eagles play their final home game of the regular season tonight as they take on Idaho State in a Big Sky Conference showdown on Reese Court. On Thursday night, the Eagles knocked out second-place Weber State in a 69-57 decision at home, marking the team's second win in the last three outings. EWU is now 5-8 in conference games on the season, but the team has not won back-to-back games since before Christmas. As for the Bengals, who stand a step ahead of EWU in the Big Sky standings at 6-5, they lost their second game in a row two nights ago with an 81-58 setback to first-place Portland State at the Stott Center. The consecutive losses mark the first time that's happened to Idaho State since losing four in a row in and around the holidays as well. With respect to the all-time series between these two schools on the hardwood, EWU now holds a 27-24 edge over the Bengals after ISU picked up a narrow 58-56 triumph in the first meeting of the season back on January 10th at home.

The Bengals shot an impressive 56 percent from the field in the second half of Thursday night's game with PSU, but that was only after Idaho State sank a mere 30.4 percent in the first half. Austin Kilpatrick accounted for a team-best 14 points off the bench on the strength of his 4-of-7 shooting behind the three- point line, while Matt Stucki and Amorrow Morgan tacked on 13 and 11 points, respectively, in the losing effort. The Bengals continue to have their issues with producing significant point totals from game to game and the team is now looking at an overall average of just 60.1 ppg. Perhaps it wouldn't look so bad if it weren't compared to the 70.1 ppg allowed by the program over the course of 24 games. Stucki shows up as the lone double-digit scorer for the group with his 11.6 ppg and is also first in terms of assists as well with 87.

Eastern Washington allowed the Wildcats to run out to a 6-0 lead in the early moments of the first half on Thursday night, but from there the game belonged to the home team. Brandon Moore registered a double-double for the Eagles with his 21 points and 10 rebounds, shooting 8-of-10 from the floor, while Marcus Hinton tacked on 12 points. Trey Gross and Adris DeLeon combined to shoot 6- of-13 behind the three-point line as they each tallied 11 points in the win as well. Although he failed to score in double figures two nights ago, Kellen Williams is still the top scorer for the program with his 13.4 ppg and is also on the top of the list when it comes to cleaning the glass with his 8.4 rpg. DeLeon contributes 12.1 ppg and is first with his 77 assists for the Eagles, yet shooting just 35.7 percent from the field is one of the major reasons why the squad is coming in at 40.2 percent collectively over the course of 27 games.

Eastern Washington showed it knows how to take care of a team like the Wildcats, even after falling behind, which is as good a reason as any to lean in favor of the home team tonight.

Predicted Outcome

Eastern Washington 69, Idaho State 63