BOISE — Scoring runs in each half helped Eastern Washington advance to the championship game against Montana for the second straight year with a 77-61 victory over Southern Utah in the semifinals of the Big Sky Conference basketball tournament Friday at CenturyLink Arena.

With Eastern’s front line of Mason Peatling, Jesse Hunt and Kim Aiken Jr., leading the way, third-seeded Eastern had a run of 22-0 in the first half and 16-2 in the second half to pull away for a win versus the No. 7 Thunderbirds in the semifinals for a second straight year.

Now, Eastern (16-17) will play top-seeded Montana (25-8) for an NCAA berth tonight at 5 (ESPNU).

Peatling, who had a double-double with 28 points and 14 rebounds in a quarterfinal victory, led the Eagles with 20 points and seven rebounds versus the Thunderbirds. Aiken had a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds, while Hunt finished with nine points, 10 rebounds and six assists.

Eastern held the Thunderbirds for a 7:20 stretch in the first half without a point, and then 6:47 in the second half without a field goal. The Eagles held SUU to 34.5 percent shooting in the game and 33.3 percent from the 3-point stripe.

“We came out and played well defensively, and that really propelled us in the first half,” Eastern coach Shantay Legans said. “In the second half they made some shots, but our guys kept the faith, kept the belief and kept the scout of keeping with the defensive game plan. And then we had some guys make some big plays. Mason had some big points down in the paint, Jesse had some drives and had six assists to get guys a lot of shots. Tyler Kidd came up big and our freshman, Kim Aiken, had a double-double. When you get that and some contributions from other players it’s a lot of fun and they’re fun to coach.”

Eastern split this season versus the Griz, beating Montana 78-71 in Cheney on Jan. 10 before falling at Montana 75-74 on Feb. 9 when now-injured Jacob Davison missed a shot that could have won it for the Eagles.

Cameron Oluyitan led Southern Utah (16-16) with 19 points.

Eastern is 2-5 in its seven previous championship games, with titles and NCAA Tournament appearances in 2004 and 2015.

Montana 78, Weber State 49: Ahmaad Rorie scored 28 points and Bobby Moorehead scored 13 with 10 rebounds and Montana routed fourth-seeded Weber State in the Big Sky semifinals.

Montana owns a three-game winning streak with an average margin of victory of 18.3 points. Eastern owns a five-game win streak victorious by 11.2 points per contest.

Rorie made two 3-pointers and a jumper early and Montana built a 19-7 lead and never trailed. Kendal Manuel’s 3 with 62 seconds before halftime made it 42-20 contest. The Grizzlies extended the lead to 62-31 on a 3 by Moorehead with 12:03 remaining. Sayeed Pridgett added 13 points for Montana.

Brekkott Chapman led Weber State (18-15) with 16 points and Michal Kozak scored 10. The Wildcats shot just 31.5 percent (17 of 54) including 5 of 21 from 3-point range.