Eastern’s life on the edge continues against Montana schools

Eastern Washington senior guard Parker Kelly feels right at home at Reese Court, and he’d like to stay around a little longer. “It’s been an awesome run, and hopefully it’s not the end,” said Kelly, who may or may not be playing his final home game on Saturday against Montana. With four games to play in the regular season, the Eagles are locked in a four-way Big Sky Conference race that will hit the finish line in nine days. The the winner will host the postseason tournament. Anything could happen, especially for the Eagles, who’ve lived on the edge for weeks:  Six of their last seven games have been decided by 6 points or fewer, and in the only one that wasn’t, they trailed at Montana State for most of the game before pulling out a 61-51 win;  They’ve dropped two of their last three games while shooting just 39 percent from the field and 29.3 percent from beyond the 3-point arc;  For most of the conference season, they’ve dealt with injuries to key players, including national scoring leader Tyler Harvey and star forward Venky Jois; Despite all that, this team is on the edge of greatness, by Eastern standards; the Eagles have won 20 games for the first time as a Division I school and have a decent shot of reaching their second NCAA Tournament. Even after losing two of three, the Eagles’ numbers are impressive: 72nd in RPI, 18th in the Collegeinsider.com mid-major poll and a 20-7 overall record. “I keep hearing that these are the biggest games Eastern has played in a long time, so that means our team is doing very well,” said coach Jim Hayford, who can add another feather by sweeping the Montana schools this week. That would give the Eagles an unprecedented 7-0 record against the Griz and Bobcats in football and basketball. More important the Eagles are 11-3 in the Big Sky with four games to play. Montana and Sacramento State are 12-3 and Northern Arizona is 10-4. The postseason scenarios are so complicated that the Big Sky office isn’t breaking out the calculators until next week. For Eastern, the simplest route to hosting the Big Sky tournament is to win out and hope that Sacramento State drops one of its final three games. The task begins Thursday night against the Bobcats, who won’t likely even make the postseason without winning two of their last three games. “They can really shoot the three and put five guys who can do that,” Hayford said. “And that spreads you out … that’s a philosphy I believe in.” Hayford believes it even when his team isn’t shooting well. “I tell them to keep shooting, you’re a good shooter, they’re going to go down,” Hayford said. And when his players go down to injury, Hayford said that’s only made the Eagles stronger. Healthwise, “we’re not perfect, but a whole lot better than we’ve been in seven weeks,” Hayford said. Confidence is up too. When reminded that the Eagles have played in a lot of nailbiters lately, forward Garrett Moon said they’ve been fun – to a point. “It’s about time we blow a team out. I think they’re gonna get the wrath of Eastern Washington – we’re going to blow them out.” Moon said.