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On Saturday night, the Montana State Bobcats will play the Eastern Washington Eagles at 8 p.m. ET ESPNU for the Big Sky championship. In the regular season, Eastern Washington won both meetings by double-digits.
The Bobcats (13-9, 8-6 Big Sky) are riding a two-game winning streak after upsetting the top-seeded Southern Utah Thunderbirds 80-77 in overtime on Friday night. In that semifinal game, Amin Adamu scored a game-high 29 points on 11-of-19 shooting from the field and 2-of-5 shooting from three-point range. Adamu was one of three Montana State players that reached double-figures in the colossal upset.
The Eagles (15-7, 12-3 Big Sky) have won three-straight games after defeating the Montana Grizzlies on Friday night 78-50 in the semis. Jacob Groves was the game’s leading scorer with 21 points (10-13 FG, 1-2 3pt) and four rebounds. His brother Tanner Groves added 18 points (8-14 FG, 2-3 3pt), four rebounds, and three assists. They were lone two players for EWU to score in double-figures, but it did not matter as none of Montana’s scored at least 10 points.
Let’s take a look at the matchup from the Idaho Central Arena in Boise, Idaho from DraftKings Sportsbook:
No. 5 Montana State vs. No. 2 Eastern Washington 8 p.m., ESPNU
Point Spread: Eastern Washington -7.5
Point Total: 148.5
The Eagles will be looking to pull off the unthinkable and beat a team three times in a season. It’s tough enough beating a team twice, let alone three times. In both of their wins against Montana State, they won by comfortable margins. Eastern Washington is 7-2 against the spread in their last nine games and they have the same record when they are the favorite. As for the Bobcats, they are 2-8 against the spread in their last 10 games and 0-5 ATS in their last five contests versus the Eagles.
The pick: Eastern Washington -7.5
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