The North Dakota State Bison and the Eastern Washington Eagles meet Saturday in college basketball action from Reese Court. North Dakota State is 1-7 overall this year. The Bison are coming off a loss to Jacksonville State. As for Eastern Washington, they’re 2-5 overall and fresh off a loss to FIU. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
North Dakota State lost their first four games of the season to Arkansas, Kansas, Pacific and Indiana State. The Bison beat Crown College in game five, then fell to Northern Colorado and New Mexico in the next pair.
On Sunday versus Jacksonville State, North Dakota State recorded another defeat. The Bison were down 32-23 by halftime and couldn’t come back in an 81-71 loss. Luke Yoder was the top scorer on 15 points with three assists.
Over on the Eastern Washington side, they lost their first three games to Santa Clara, Yale and Hawaii. The Eagles beat Mississippi Valley State and Stony Brook in their next three games, surrounding a loss to Washington State.
Matched up against FIU on Sunday, Eastern Washington took a 48-35 deficit into the break. The Eagles got better from there but ended up falling 90-79. Leading scorer Steele Venters managed 19 points with six boards.
PICK: I’m going to stay with Eastern Washington. The Eagles are coming off a rough performance against a pretty good FIU team. Eastern Washington shot a solid 45.3 percent from the field in that one, but the 10-of-18 (55.6 percent) from the line against FIU’s 20-of-22 (90.9 percent) didn’t help.
As for North Dakota State, there’s not a lot to get excited about. That said, the Bison have scored pretty well lately with 70 or more points in five of their last six. North Dakota State has also been giving up a ton of points this year however, so Eastern Washington should have ample opportunity to score.