Big Sky notes: Jim Hayford, Brian Katz friends to the end

MISSOULA – Their game plans will be tested tonight. Their friendship? Never.

Eastern Washington coach Jim Hayford and Sacramento State’s Brian Katz go back more than two decades, but only one will take his team to Saturday night’s Big Sky Conference title game.

“It’s awkward, but we make it work,” Katz said Thursday after the Hornets beat Portland State to clinch a spot opposite Hayford’s Eagles in tonight’s semifinal at Dahlberg Arena.

They’ve been friends since the early 1990s, during Hayford’s stint as an assistant at Azusa Pacific and later at Whitworth. A longtime junior college coach at Lassen and Delta in California, Katz recalled Hayford stopping by on recruiting trips.

“If anyone ever told us that in that moment in time, we would be in this game, I would ask how we would ever get there,” said Katz, who took over the Sac State program in 2008.

Three years later, Hayford moved to Eastern; now they’re co-conference coaches of the year. Said Hayford earlier this week, “What makes it very special is that I am sharing it with one of my best friends and colleagues.”

The Eagles and Hornets split their two meetings this year, with Sac State winning 90-77 in Sacramento and Eastern taking a 64-61 decision in Cheney.

No excuses from UI

Idaho guard Connor Hill left it all on the court Thursday afternoon. Still battling flu-like symptoms in his final college game, the senior from Post Falls scored a team-high 24 points and kept the Vandals in the game to the end.

“I’m not feeling as good as I should, but I played, and I played as hard as I could,” Hill said.

The game also was the last for senior guard Mike Scott, a junior college transfer who thanked coach Don Verlin “for giving me the chance to come here and play.”

For most of the season, Scott led the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio, while Hill is the Vandals’ all-time leader in 3-point shooting.

At halftime of Thursday’s game, Hill had connected on five 3-pointers, one more than Eastern Washington.

Stinging commentary

With host Montana playing Thursday night, attendance was sparse for the afternoon session.

That meant players could hear almost every word from the stands, including the running commentary from the Sacramento State women’s team during the Hornets’ 70-60 win over Portland State.

The Hornets, who are still alive in the women’s tournament, turned up the heat in the second half.

As PSU’s Tiegbe Bamba stepped up to the free-throw line, one Lady Hornet screamed, “You’re no shooter.”

Bamba missed one of two foul shots. Two minutes later, the screams were even louder, and Bamba clanked the front end of a one-and-one.