November 14, 2004 in Sports

Eastern gives Burns victory in his debut

• Print
• Email
• Share

CHENEY – The Mike Burns era is officially under way.

Eastern Washington University tipped off the 2004-05 men’s basketball season with a 73-69 exhibition victory over Central Washington Saturday night at Reese Court.

For the Eagles, it was their first game since last year’s NCAA Tournament appearance and their first game under Burns, a former Eastern assistant coach replacing the departed Ray Giacoletti.

“There was a lot of anxiety involved, but I have to give a lot of credit to those kids from Central Washington,” Burns said. “They played hard and they probably deserved a better outcome than the one they had.

“Bottom line: I think Central played harder than we did, and we have to correct that. We have to do better and we have to do better before we head back to Wichita next week, because Wichita State will bring it.”

EWU returns two starters from the team that won last year’s Big Sky Conference regular-season and tournament championships and threw a scare into Oklahoma State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Matt Nelson, last year’s Big Sky freshman of the year, led the Eagles with a 16-point, nine-rebound effort. Senior Marc Axton, a two-time All-Big Sky, first-team power forward, added 13 despite struggling from the floor, hitting 5 of 12 shots.

In his first game as a starter, sophomore Eric Henkel tossed in a dozen points and Port Orchard, Wash., freshman Jake Beitinger came off the bench with another dozen.

Burns must replace last year’s starting backcourt tandem of Brendon Merritt and Alvin Snow. Danny Pariseau, a key back-up the past two seasons, started at point guard, collecting nine points and three assists.

Junior college transfer Kenny “Deuce” Smith, scored four points in 28 minutes starting in the shooting guard spot.

Eastern Washington shot well, especially for a first game. The Eagles converted 30 of 56 shots from the floor (53.6 percent).

Central caused the Eagles some match-up problems on defense, basically playing with four perimeter players, including former Sunnyside Christian standout Lance Den Boer, a sophomore transfer from Washington State, who contributed 14 points on 4-of-11 shooting from 3-point range. The Wildcats shot 9 of 32 from beyond the arc.

Guard Robert Hicks led all scorers with a 19-point effort for Central Washington.

Eastern Washington opens the regular season at Wichita State Saturday. The Eagles home opener is December 1 against Cascade.

No comments on this story so far. Add yours!