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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Intrepid Eastern Fails Again

Eastern Washington suffered its third straight excruciating defeat Saturday night, a 70-65 overtime loss to Boise State, but refused to surrender the spirit that has kept the Big Sky’s least successful basketball team from giving up without a fight.

Showing reserves of resolve after enduring consecutive one-point, lose-from-ahead outings against Montana and Idaho State, EWU played its most inspired basketball of the season in taking a 33-19 halftime lead Saturday night in Reese Court.

Then Mike Tolman showed up. The BSU forward, held scoreless in the first half, shot the first-place Broncos (12-9 overall, 8-1 Big Sky) into overtime with five secondhalf 3-pointers, then finished the job with a pair of 3s that knocked out EWU (2-18, 0-9) in OT.

“We did all the right things last night and we did all the right things tonight,” Eagles coach Steve Aggers said. “But part of our thing is we don’t have a go-to guy. We don’t have a guy that’s a can’t-miss offensive player, that you know when the ball’s in his hands, he’s going to get fouled or score.”

Still, EWU had its chances.

After J.D. Huleen’s layup put Boise ahead 55-54 with 1:34 left in regulation - it was the Broncos’ first lead since 8-6 - Eagles point guard Travis King answered with a 3 from the left corner. Then, BSU turned the ball over on a traveling violation, giving EWU possession with a 57-55 lead and just 40 seconds left.

But Eastern, lacking that go-to scorer, was forced to settle for King’s desperation 15-footer as the shot clock wound down. Boise’s Gerry Washington blocked the shot and alertly found Tolman for the tying layup with 8 seconds left.

EWU called timeout to set up the potential game-winner, but again couldn’t find a dependable scoring threat. Junior forward Luke Egan’s errant fadeaway from 16 feet was hardly a high-percentage shot.

“I saw (BSU center Phil) Rodman coming at me and didn’t want to get called for a charge,” said Egan. “I realize my mistake and will learn from it.”

Egan’s spinning layup along the left baseline put EWU ahead 59-57 in OT, but Washington beat King for a layup and Tolman followed with an open 3. The teams traded baskets before Tolman’s final 3 settled things, making it 67-61 with 1:00 left.

“I just think it’s a mental block about finding a way to win,” Aggers said. “But these kids have responded. You talk about the emotional let-down last night of (Idaho State) scoring with 1 second to go. There’s a whole lot of teams that would have come in tonight and laid down. Our guys have shown the perseverance and shown the character to keep battling back and keep fighting and scrapping.”

D’mitri Rideout scored 14 points for EWU, but committed four of Eastern’s season-low nine turnovers. King added 13 points, six rebounds, eight assists and two steals, but couldn’t keep Washington from starting BSU’s offense with quick drives to the basket.

“You have under 10 turnovers in league play, you’ve normally got a great chance to win the game,” Aggers said. “It just comes down to one of their guys got hot; nobody on our team got hot. That’s basically it.”

Boise State 70, EWU 65 (OT)

Boise State (12-9) - Tolman 8-13 0-0 23, Rodman 3-3 3-5 9, Huleen 5-9 2-4 12, Washington 3-5 3-4 9, Wyatt 4-11 1-1 10, Flanagan 0-1 2-2 2, Hagman 0-1 0-0 0, Sherrill 0-0 0-0 0, Tharp 1-3 2-2 5, Van Kirk 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-46 13-18 70.

Eastern Washington (2-18) - Porter 3-9 1-1 7, Groves 0-0 1-2 1, Dean 2-4 0-1 4, Rideout 7-10 0-1 14, King 5-10 0-0 13, Lewis 4-9 2-4 10, Carter 1-2 0-0 2, Egan 4-10 0-0 10, Thompson 0-0 0-0 0, Sims 2-7 0-0 4. Totals 28-61 4-9 65.

Halftime-Eastern Washington 33, Boise St. 19. 3-Point goals- Boise St. 9-20 (Tolman 7-9, Washington 0-1, Wyatt 1-7, Flanagan 0-1, Tharp 1-2), Eastern Washington 5-10 (Rideout 0-1, King 3-4, Egan 2-5). Fouled out-None. Rebounds-Boise St. 31 (Rodman 7), Eastern Washington 32 (King, Sims 6). Assists-Boise St. 17 (Wyatt 7), Eastern Washington 19 (King 8). Total fouls-Boise St. 14, Eastern Washington 16. A-1,334.

, DataTimes