GAME NOTES: The Eastern Washington Eagles begin their trek toward what they hope is a Big Sky championship and an NCAA Tournament berth, as they kick off their conference tournament with a quarterfinal matchup against the Idaho Vandals at Dahlberg Arena.

Eastern Washington, which was the Big Sky regular season co-champion alongside Montana, enters this tournament as the two-seed after going 23-8 overall and 14-4 in league play. This will be the Eagles' first Big Sky Tournament appearance since the 2011-12 campaign.

Because EWU and UM split their season series, the tiebreaker for the No. 1 seed and host status of the tournament was won by Montana by virtue of a better collective record against the two teams who tied for third.

Eastern Washington, though, was a Big Sky best 10-6 on the road this season and won its only game played in Montana. However, Eastern is 0-3 in the tournament in Montana, including its last appearance in the 2012 semifinals when the No. 4 seeded Eagles lost 74-66 to the top-seeded Grizzlies.

Idaho, meanwhile, ended its regular season with two straight losses and defeats in four of its last six. Still, it enters this tournament as the seven-seed after going 13-16 overall and just 8-10 in the league.

The Eagles and Vandals played two hard-fought battles this season, with EWU pulling out an 89-86 victory in Idaho on Jan. 10. Eastern then rallied in the rematch on its homecourt for a 98-95 overtime victory on Jan. 31.

Eastern and Idaho have met once before in the tournament, with Idaho beating Eastern, 65-62, in the 1990 championship game.

The winner of this contest will square off against the winner between No. 3 Portland State and No. 6 Sacramento State on Friday.

Eastern Washington is led by guard Tyler Harvey, who leads NCAA Division I in scoring offense (22.9 points per game) and 3-pointers per game (4.00), and is 20th 3-point shooting percentage (42.9 percent) and 53rd in free throw percentage (.841). He and forward Venky Jois, who has missed four full games and parts of two others with a sprained ankle, were named to the All-Big Sky Conference team. Jois scored 17.1 ppg and was among the best in the nation with a field goal percentage of 60.4 percent. He also blocked 2.41 shots a game pulled down 7.6 rpg.

In addition to those two, Bogdan Bliznyuk was recognized as the Freshman of the Year and point guard Drew Brandon was an honorable mention selection.

As for Idaho, Connor Hill and Mike Scott are second-team all-conference choices after spending the season among the nation's best 3-point shooters (Hill) and assists leaders (Scott). Hill, who led the Vandals with 16.1 ppg, heads into the game as Division I's active career 3-point goals leader with his 334. He made six last Saturday at Idaho State to break Idaho's single- season record of 99 by totaling 102 with at least one game to play.

Both schools light up the scoreboard, but neither play particularly well on the defensive end. Eastern Washington though, is just better and should have no problem moving on.