Fresh faces lift Eagles
A year ago, when the Eastern Washington men’s basketball team was embarking on what would be a disappointing 8-20 season, Rodney Stuckey, Kellen Williams and Nick Livi were sitting out for academic reasons and Matt Penoncello redshirted while nursing a bad back.
They studied hard and played a lot of basketball on their own, even in intramurals.
They finally got to make their regular-season debut Saturday night at Reese Court and they didn’t disappoint.
Williams poured in 19 points, Stuckey had 14 with 10 assists, seven rebounds, five steals and a block, Penoncello scored 10 and Livi eight as the Eagles delighted a crowd of 2,527 with an 89-63 win over Division III Pacific Lutheran.
“Our young guys can bring energy and excitement to the team,” head coach Mike Burns said. “That makes us fun to watch, at times.”
“We have good chemistry,” the soft-spoken Williams said after hitting 6 of 10 field goals and 7 of 8 free throws. He also had two assists, three steals and a block.
Often the new-look Eagles were brilliant, shooting 53 percent for the game, dishing 23 assists on 31 baskets, pounding the boards for a 43-26 advantage and making 15 steals. Yet at other times, with things rolling so well on offense, the Eagles were a little indifferent in protecting the ball and playing defense. They had 18 turnovers and let an obviously outmanned opponent score 63 points.
“At times I was pleased with our effort but again when we had a substantial lead we seemed to lose our focus,” Burns said. “I’m disappointed because that is something we had talked about prior to this game and we still struggled with maintaining that focus.”
The Eagles started strong, hitting their first five shots to blast to a 12-2 lead. They raced to a 49-30 halftime lead with 10 different players scoring, led by Penoncello’s eight, and then put on quite a display by opening the second half with a 26-12 run.
And run it was with 16 points coming in transition, highlighted by Stuckey’s ally-oop pass to Henry Bekkering for a thundering fast-break flush.
“We play good D but at the beginning of the halves we play better defense than at the end of the game,” Williams said. “At the end we need to focus. We’ve got scorers, we can score of course, we just have to defend better.”
EWU scored 26 points off PLU turnovers and had a stunning 31-2 advantage in fastbreak points and a 16-point advantage at the foul line.
Drew Cardwell, a 6-foot-3 wing, scored 19 for the Lutes with Byron Becker, a 6-2 wing, adding 18.
EWU 89, Pacific Lutheran 63
Pacific Lutheran (0-1)–Cardwell 9-15 1-2 19, Vanlandingham 0-2 0-0 0, Misterek 1-5 0-1 2, Mehalechko 1-2 0-0 3, Heidenriech 1-6 2-2 5, Carstensen 0-0 1-2 1, TecleMariam 3-5 2-2 9, Decker 6-13 0-0 15, Dressler 0-4 1-2 1, Pedersen 1-3 1-2 3, McDaniels 0-0 0-0 0, Sinnes 1-2 0-0 3, Edwards 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 24-59 8-13 63.
Eastern Washington (1-0)–Beitinger 3-3 0-4 6, Williams 6-10 7-8 19, Butorac 1-5 4-6 6, Stuckey 6-14 0-0 14, Smith 3-5 0-0 7, Livi 3-5 0-0 8, Penoncello 4-8 1-2 10, Bekkering 1-3 5-6 7, Humphrey 0-0 2-2 2, Zumwalt 2-2 0-0 6, Bright 0-0 0-0 0, Risper 2-3 0-2 4. Totals 31-58 19-30 89.
Halftime–Eastern Washington 49, Pacific Lutheran 30. 3-point goals–Pacific Lutheran 7-23 (Decker 3-5, Sinnes 1-1, Mehalechko 1-2, TecleMariam 1-2, Heidenriech 1-4, Cardwell 0-1, Pederesen 0-1, Edwards 0-1, Vanlandingham 0-2, Misterek 0-2), Eastern Washington 8-17 (Zumwalt 2-2, Livi 2-3, Stuckey 2-5, Smith 1-1, Penoncello 1-4, Williams 0-2). Fouled out–Misterek. Rebounds–Pacific Lutheran 26 (Cardwell 7), Eastern Washington 43 (Butorac 9). Assists–Pacific Lutheran 16 (Heidenreich 6), Eastern Washington 23 (Stuckey 10). Total fouls–Pacific Lutheran 20, Eastern Washington 19. A–2,527.