In Eastern’s defense, it’s season’s first victory

Defensive passion can cure a host of ailments at the other end of a basketball court.

Eastern Washington University severely tested the limits of its defensive healing power at Reese Court on Thursday night, but never quite exceeded them.

As a result, the Eagles were able to stage an unlikely second-half comeback in their home opener and turn away UC Riverside 59-51, giving Kirk Earlywine his first win as an NCAA Division I head coach.

Senior forward Kellen Williams played all 40 minutes for undermanned Eastern (1-2) and finished with 17 points, 13 rebounds, three assists and three steals as the Eagles overcame an 11-point halftime deficit to send a crowd of 1,954 home happy.

“I told our guys after the game, ‘A: Congratulations, and B: Thanks,’ ” said an obviously pleased Earlywine. “It was my first win as a Division I coach and we got it in a fashion I liked. I thought we showed tremendous mental toughness tonight, because things went really bad for us in the first half.”

Still, the Eagles stuck with Earlywine’s game plan, kept grinding on the defensive end of the court and eventually came up with some much-needed turnovers that resulted in several run-out baskets as they outscored the Highlanders (0-3) 37-18 in the second half.

Along with the big effort from Williams, Eastern got 15 points from freshman Trey Gross and 14 from senior Marcus Hinton.

UC Riverside was paced by senior guard Larry Cunningham, who finished with a game-high 20 points. But it wasn’t enough to make up for Eastern’s defensive fervor, which resulted in 10 steals.

“It was important for us to get the break going in the second half,” admitted Williams, who made six of his 13 field-goal attempts, including 3 of 4 3-pointers. “Our coach kept telling us to keep being up – defense, defense, defense – and our offense would come.

“We just finally got come defensive stops, but that’s what we’ve been working on in practice.”

Following a ratty first half in which they made only 5 of 24 basket tries, the Eagles opened the second half with 10 unanswered points. Adris DeLeon and Gross both banged down 3-pointers to ignite the run, and the Eagles caught the Highlanders a couple of minutes later when Williams nailed a 3-pointer.

Eastern built its lead to 48-39 before Cunningham shook loose for two more tough baskets. But the Eagles did a nice job of working the clock the rest of the way.

“We did a great job with the lead,” Earlywine said. “Either I tricked them, or they have some faith in the coaching staff, because they kept doing what we asked them to do.”

Eastern takes to the road this weekend to take on Washington in another non-conference matchup in Seattle on Sunday. Tipoff is set for 3:05 p.m.