Benzel scorches EWU with 30 in home return

Erik Benzel’s last trip home as a college basketball player wasn’t quite perfect, if you were expecting absolute perfection.

But if perfection is a win and a memorable performance, the 2001 Ferris grad can feel good about Saturday night.

The University of Denver senior matched his career high with 30 points as the Pioneer rolled past reeling Eastern Washington University 80-61 in non-conference men’s basketball at Reese Court.

“I told myself the first time I touched it to shoot it and hopefully it goes in,” Benzel said. “It was good from there.”

Benzel hit 11 of 14 shots, including 6 of 9 on 3-pointers, and added four assists, two steals and a block. He drilled his first six shots, much to the delight of a decent portion of the Ferris boosters among the 1,610 in attendance.

“It means everything,” the 6-foot-1 senior guard said. “I have about 35 people here and it’s probably the last time they’ll get to see me play. I’ve been gone for a while. You want to come back and play in front of the people that matter to you.”

Benzel received plenty of help, with Yemi Nicholson adding 22 points and Brett Seger 13.

Meanwhile, the Eagles (2-7) lost their fifth straight and face Gonzaga on Tuesday night at the Arena.

“I don’t think we were outstanding defensively by any stretch,” EWU coach Mike Burns said. “You’ve got to give them some credit. They were making some plays. Benzel was on fire. I know he was in front of a lot of friends and family, so you have to take your hat off to him for an outstanding performance.”

Marc Axton led the Eagles with 15 points. Paul Butorac and Henry Bekkering, in his first action since an injury in the second game, came off the bench to score 12 and 10, respectively.

“It was very good to get Henry back,” Burns said. “He was a little rusty and that’s expected because he’s been out three weeks. … He’ll bring some toughness and athleticism into the lineup that we can really use right now.”

Denver (5-3) was in control from the beginning. Eastern couldn’t control Benzel and just about every player on the roster tried.

Benzel opened the game with a 3-pointer and had three in the first five minutes to fuel a 16-5 lead. By the time he’d scored 13 points, Denver led 24-11.

Benzel was coming off a game in which he didn’t score a field goal in a 56-52 loss to Stanford.

“It didn’t change the game plan for this one,” he said. “Anytime you go a whole game without scoring you start to wonder if you’re ever going to make a basket again. It was important. A scorer’s mentality is to shoot.”

Benzel hit another 3-pointer to boost his total to 16 points. He surpassed 17 – the total he had in each of the three previous meetings between the teams – with a pair of free throws with 5:29 left in the half. His only miss in the half was a 3-pointer that spun out with less than three minutes to go.

“It’s just one of those things,” Benzel said. “I play against these guys all the time. I think it’s competitive friendship. You go out there and want to one-up the other guy.”

For the half he hit 6 of 7 shots, including 4 of 5 3-pointers. For good measure, he added two assists, two rebounds and two steals.

The Eagles held to their recent second-half form, coming out flat. They were outscored 9-0 to open the second half, falling behind by 22 and eliminating any thought of a comeback. Benzel had a drive and a 3-pointer to cap the burst.

“They do a good job of running their stuff,” Burns said of Denver. “They share the basketball and they did a good job of finding Benzel tonight. We told our guys he’s coming home to play in front of the homefolks. We have to keep track of him and we did a poor job of that.”

Benzel wasn’t the only hot hand. Nicholson hit 10 of 14 shots as the Pioneers shot 58.5 percent for the game. Denver also had a 36-28 edge in rebounds, blocked six shots and limited the Eagles to 37-percent shooting.

“I was not pleased with our ability to share the basketball,” Burns said. “I was not pleased with our defensive effort and our effort on the glass. Obviously not having (injured forward) Matt Nelson hurts us a great deal in that area. We’re lacking a little defensive toughness right now that Nelly can bring when he’s in there. We’ve got other guys that need to step up and pick up the slack, and that is not happening right now.”

Denver 80, Eastern Washington 61

Denver (5-3)–Porch 1-3 3-6 5, Carpenter 2-5 0-1 5, Nicholson 10-14 2-3 22, Billups 1-6 0-0 3, Benzel 11-14 2-3 30, Wetrich 1-3 0-1 2, Jackson 0-1 0-0 0, Gordon 0-0 0-0 0, Brown 0-0 0-1 0, Seger 5-7 2-3 13, Gibbons 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 31-53 9-18 80.

Eastern Washington (2-7)–Henkel 1-5 2-2 5, Axton 6-13 1-2 15, Beitinger 4-10 0-0 9, Smith 1-4 0-0 2, Pariseau 1-3 0-0 3, Scheffler 0-2 0-0 0, Bekkering 3-5 3-5 10, Wortham 1-1 0-0 3, Loe 0-3 0-0 0, Butorac 2-4 8-8 12, Nicholas 0-1 2-4 2. Totals 19-51 16-21 61.

Halftime–Denver 42, Eastern Washington 29. 3-point goals–Denver 9-15 (Benzel 6-9, Billups 1-1, Seger 1-2, Carpenter 1-3), Eastern Washington 7-20 (Axton 2-4, Wortham 1-1, Henkel 1-2, Beitinger 1-2, Bekkering 1-2, Pariseau 1-3, Scheffler 0-1, Butorac 0-1, Smith 0-2, Loe 0-2). Fouled out–Porch. Rebounds–Denver 36 (Porch, Nicholson 8), Eastern Washington 28 (Axton 5). Assists–Denver 17 (Billups 7), Eastern Washington 12 (Pariseau 3). Total fouls–Denver 20, Eastern Washington 19. A–1610.