CHENEY - The Weber State Wildcats showed why they were picked to finish second in the conference this season.

Weber State did a little of everything and defeated Eastern Washington 74-53 on Thursday at Reese Court in the Big Sky men's basketball opener for both schools.

The Wildcats opened an 11-0 lead and led from start to finish in improving to 5-3 overall. The Eagles, who were outshot 48 percent to 34 percent, fell to 2-9 overall with their fourth straight loss. Freshman Venky Jois led the Eagles with 21 points - one away from his career high of 22 against Cal State Fullerton on Nov. 30 in Eastern's last win.

"This is one of the two toughest home games we will have to play in the Big Sky," said Eastern coach Jim Hayford, whose team started a freshman, two sophomores, a junior and a senior on Thursday. "They beat us by 10 in both halves. They are a very, very good team. Every game we are learning, and we are working on getting better."

Weber State had five players score at least nine points, led by Jordan Richardson's 15. The Wildcats outrebounded Eastern 41-28 and had 18 fast break points compared to two for the Eagles.

Eastern, which entered the game ranked first in the Big Sky and second in NCAA Division I with an average of 10.5 3-pointers made per game, made just 4 of 16. The Eagles made 43 percent of their shots in the second half after making 28 percent in the first half.

"We need to get more and more confident with our offense," Hayford said. "We need to learn how each other plays so that we can go to the counter for what the defense is taking away. We did not do a satisfactory job of that tonight.

"They basically said they are going to take away the perimeter game, and make us play one-on-one inside," he added. "They made the right decision because they were able to beat us inside, and we were not able to beat them inside."

Jois made 7 of 12 shots from the field and 7 of 10 free throws, and also had five rebounds and four blocked shots. Junior guard Justin Crosgile added 11 points, six rebounds and a pair of assists.

EWU hosts Idaho State on Saturday.

WEBER ST. (5-3)

Otis 3-3 1-1 7, Berry 2-9 4-4 9, Tresnak 5-8 4-5 14, Bamforth 2-4 2-2 8, Richardson 4-7 4-6 15, Wheelwright 0-0 0-0 0, Bradford 1-1 1-2 3, Bolomboy 3-5 3-6 9, Fulton 3-5 1-2 9, Williams 0-2 0-0 0, Hajek 0-4 0-0 0. Totals 23-48 20-28 74.

E. WASHINGTON (2-9)

Kelly 3-5 0-0 8, Jois 7-12 7-10 21, Seiferth 0-0 0-2 0, Crosgile 4-14 2-4 11, Forbes 0-3 0-0 0, Harvey 0-0 1-2 1, Hill 0-1 2-2 2, Reuter 2-4 1-1 5, Dorsey 0-4 0-0 0, Jorg 1-1 0-0 2, Winford 0-2 0-2 0, Hickert 1-7 0-0 3. Totals 18-53 13-23 53.

Halftime_Weber St. 37-26. 3-Point Goals_Weber St. 8-15 (Richardson 3-5, Bamforth 2-3, Fulton 2-4, Berry 1-2, Williams 0-1), E. Washington 4-16 (Kelly 2-4, Crosgile 1-4, Hickert 1-6, Jois 0-1, Reuter 0-1). Fouled Out_Kelly. Rebounds_Weber St. 41 (Bolomboy 12), E. Washington 28 (Crosgile 6). Assists_Weber St. 13 (Berry 7), E. Washington 8 (Crosgile 2). Total Fouls_Weber St. 21, E. Washington 19. A_610.