Eastern Beats Boise To End Losing Streaks

The plane carrying the Eastern Washington University basketball team left Boise this morning, although the Eagles probably could’ve flown home unassisted Saturday night.

They were feeling that good.

And why not? The losing streaks - 29 straight in the Big Sky Conference and 44 straight on the road - were finally over.

A BSU Pavilion crowd of 7,774 saw the Eagles’ first win in Boise.

“Obviously, I’m happy for the players,” Eagles coach John Wade said. “The kids were working hard. A lot of times, when things are not going well, everybody assumes that you’re not doing everything you can do to win basketball games.

“The kids have been really trying,” Wade continued. “Believe it or not, we’ve had some games we could’ve won. Things just kind of hadn’t bounced our way.”

With 22 points and 16 rebounds, junior center Melvin Lewis continued his string of dominant inside games, taking full advantage of the absence of injured Boise State 7-footer John Coker. “With Coker out, Melvin’s the best center in the league right now,” Wade said.

Lewis is averaging 18 points and 10.6 rebounds over the last five games. Foul trouble kept him out for much of Friday night’s loss at Idaho State, although he still managed 16 points and five rebounds.

“I think this game right here will help us start getting some things done now,” the 6-foot-8 Lewis said. “We know we can do it now.”

There were moments of doubt Saturday night, as there have been all season. This time, Eastern had the answers. Among the highlights:

Carl Crider’s 16-footer with 7:27 remaining. The bucket pulled Eastern within 57-56 and ended a 5-0 Broncos run. Crider, a sophomore point guard, finished with six points, four assists and no turnovers.

Suffering through an off shooting night (3 for 11), Josh Lewis rifled a pass to D’mitri Rideout for a layup that put the Eagles ahead for good, 58-57.

Melvin Lewis scored inside on consecutive EWU possessions to keep the Eagles ahead, then found Rideout on the perimeter for a straightaway 3-pointer that made it 67-63 with 2:41 remaining.

Rideout then secured the victory with two free throws, staking Eastern to a 71-63 lead with 44.4 seconds to play. Rideout had rebounded teammate Ed Richardson’s missed free throw, forcing Boise State to foul.

“You know what the biggest thing about the game was?” Wade queried. “It was that we won at Boise. To be the first (EWU) team to win at Boise.

“They get nice crowds, and the people are into it, and they got a lot of money. They’ve got all the pluses that people always think are what makes the difference. So it was nice for our guys to feel that in front of a rabid crowd.”

Eastern returns to Cheney for three games, starting with Friday night’s 6:07 p.m. game against Idaho.

E. Washington 72, Boise State 66

EWU (1-8, 4-16)

Groves 4-4 4-5 12, Stinnett 0-3 0-0 0, M. Lewis 10-15 2-6 22, Thompson 1-1 0-0 2, Rideout 6-8 4-6 18, J. Lewis 3-11 0-0 6, Crider 2-5 2-2 6, Robinson 0-0 0-2 0, Porter 2-6 2-2 6. Totals 28-53 14-23 72.

BOISE ST. (5-4, 15-6)

Huleen 4-10 0-0 9, Rodman 1-4 0-0 2, Morris 7-13 6-12 20, Archibald 4-11 2-2 11, Woods 2-6 3-4 7, Tharp 1-1 0-0 3, Folsom 2-9 2-2 8, Walker 1-2 3-7 5, Dille 0-0 1-2 1, Sherill 0-1 0-0 0, Stewart 0-0 0-1 0. Totals 22-57 17-30 66.

Halftime-EW 35, BSU 32. 3-Point goals-EW 2-10 (Rideout 2-2, Stinnett 0-1, Crider 0-3, J. Lewis 0-4) BSU 5-16 (Folsom 2-6, Tharp 1-1, Huleen 1-3 Ahrchicald 1-5 Woods 0-1) Fouled out- None. Rebounds-EW 41 (M. Lewis 16), BSU 31 (Woods 8). Assists-EW 15 (Crider 4), BSU 12 (Walker 4). Total fouls-EW 25, BSU 20. A-7,774.