Resilient Eagles became believers

MISSOULA – Define belief.

Is it grasping that an 11-point deficit on an opponent’s home floor with mere minutes to go is a speedbump and not a sierra?

Is it understanding the hurt of a 20-loss season helps?

Is it when your sharpshooter has to sit because of injury, when shortcuts turn out to be roadblocks, when the big picture seems too distant to pull into focus?

Is it just, well, knowing?

All of those, yes, but on Saturday night, the Eastern Washington Eagles defined belief in their signature way – another improbable comeback staggering Big Sky Conference tournament host Montana 69-65 in the championship game, and snatching the league’s visa to the NCAA tournament away from the Grizzlies.

And if you think it was hard on the mostly-Montana crowd of 7,026, the moment was nearly too much for some of the Eags.

“I was just about to faint,” junior Venky Jois admitted.

Nonetheless, the Eagles are back in the Big Dance after an 11-year absence.

Before that breakthrough trip in 2004, the Eagles had toiled for two decades in Division I without big reward. Mathematically, then, the next wait should only be five years or so – but the temptation is to think it won’t last that long.

But maybe the point is not to think, but believe it.

When the Eagles ended their 2014 season, unfulfilled when the Big Sky’s tournament format left them without so much as a longshot’s chance, three words went up on the locker-room whiteboard.

Leave no doubt.

Sounds pretty good now, but in fact Eastern left considerable doubt along the way. There were midseason injuries that cost national scoring leader Tyler Harvey three games and Jois four. Other starters missed time, too. Then the Eagles lost three of five games in February when they appeared to be in the driver’s seat to host the tournament.

And, finally, they put themselves in 59-48 hole against the Grizzlies with 6 minutes to play.

At which point, Hayford called timeout and delivered a message.

“Let’s start playing to win,” he told his team, “and make them start playing not to lose.”

Good strategy. Even better, the Grizzlies cooperated.

It was one thing for Eastern, in the process of shooting 35 percent and kicking the ball away three straight times down the floor, to suddenly drill eight of their last nine shots and make every right decision. It was quite another for Montana to turn the ball over four times – one a 5-seconds inbounds violation.

“We shifted all the pressure in the room on to them,” Hayford said.

The Montana lead – still nine with 4 minutes to go – was gone in 120 seconds once Felix Von Hofe found net with a 3-pointer, and it wasn’t just that he knew it was in when it left his hand.

“I knew it was in before I let it go,” he said.

Now that’s belief.

There were other big shots before that (Harvey’s first 3 after five misses) and after (Drew Brandon’s 12-footer to give EWU the lead for good) – and big plays that weren’t shots. As Eastern launched its comeback, senior guard Parker Kelly got switched on to UM center Martin Breunig at the defensive end, giving away four inches and some poundage to a player who had strafed the Eags for 23 points and 17 rebounds. The Grizzlies got him the ball, but Kelly didn’t give him a shot.

“Being down 11 with 6 minutes left wasn’t something new to us,” Kelly said. “We’d been through that against Idaho, against Weber. We’re a tough team to beat.”

Toughness built over the long haul for, as Hayford noted, “We built a program and it didn’t just happen this year” because they went 26-8. There was the 10-21 slog two seasons ago, players who came and went, plenty of good seats often available at Reese Court.

“When you’re trying to do something that takes this much work and is this hard to accomplish, there’s no shortcuts,” Hayford said. “Every shortcut we took – whether it was a player we shouldn’t have recruited, or what – we suffered a setback.

“To have success where there hasn’t been a lot of history of success is really, really special. And just exhausting.”

So Bracketville here they come. Where do you suppose the Eagles will end up? Seattle? Omaha? Jacksonville? Will they be a 14 seed? A 15?

Will they get so much as a cutaway clip on “One Shining Moment?”

“Whatever happens will be great,” Hayford said. “We’ll go, and we’ll try to come up with a game plan.

“You know, I thought this might happen.”

Thought that, somewhere along the line, turned into belief.