When Huskies guard Venoy Overton entered the game at about the six minute mark, Eastern Washington was up 9 to 6 and forcing long jumpers and threes with their 2-3 zone.
After Overton came in the game a few things happened: his defensive pressure caused turnovers in EWU’s halfcourt offense, he was able to get penetration and set up others offensively, and his steals helped trigger transition buckets.
Overton finished the half with seven points, three steals, and three assists to no turnovers while also forcing EWU into countless bad turnovers. But the bench as a whole might be the most encouraging sign tonight: Terrence Ross came off the bench to score a team-high nine points on 4-for-8 shooting as well, helping the Huskies outscore EWU’s bench 21 to 9.
However, the Huskies will have to cut down on 3-pointers to really pull away: they are 5-for-19 but shooting 58.65 percent inside the arc. EWU’s defense is clogging the lane thus far forcing some of those long shots – and limiting Bryan-Amaning’s touches – but another encouraging sign near the end of the half was the mid-range shooting from Ross and Justin Holiday.