Bengals Slip By Ewu Harwell Gives Idaho St. Big Lift In Second-Half Comeback

Nate Green had 20 points and Ron Harwell scored a career-high 19 to carry Idaho State to an 81-78 Big Sky Conference win over Eastern Washington Saturday night in Holt Arena.

Senior off-guard Curtis Porter led the Eagles (2-11 overall, 0-2 in Big Sky play) with 18 points, followed by off-guard D’mitri Rideout with 15. Porter and Rideout rebounded from poor performances in Friday night’s 73-49 loss at Boise State, a loss in which Porter scored two points and Rideout five.

Center Adam Dean added 14 points and 10 rebounds, but backup Melvin Lewis continued to struggle. Lewis, held scoreless in Boise, had two points in 15 minutes Saturday.

Shabaka Lands added 15 points for the Bengals.

EWU dominated the Bengals (5-7, 2-0) in the first half and led 34-29 at the intermission.

The Eagles outscored the Bengals 13-9 to start the second half, and led 47-38 with 13:35 to play. But the Bengals retaliated with 15-5 run, including six points by Harwell, to earn their first lead of the game, 53-52, with 9:10 to play.

EWU answered with a 10-5 run, led by Rideout with four points, and regained the lead 62-58 with 6:41 left. Over the next 3 minutes, the Bengals scored seven unanswered points and led 65-62 on a hook shot by Green. EWU regained the lead, 66-65, with 2:21 left on a pair of free throws by Kevin Groves.

But ISU’s Mack Tarver put the game away with a 3-pointer and two layups to give the Bengals a 74-66 lead with 1:18 to play.

ISU led 81-73 with 11 seconds left, but Porter hit a 3-pointer with 4 seconds on the clock to cut the lead to five. Groves converted an ISU turnover into a putback that gave EWU its final score.

Idaho State 81, EWU 78

Eastern Washington (2-11) - Rideout 6-14 2-2 15, King 1-8 3-3 6, Dean 4-10 6-6 14, Sims 5-8 0-0 10, Groves 3-4 5-8 11, Lewis 1-4 0-0 2, Carter 0-3 0-0 0, Egan 0-1 0-0 0, Thompson 1-1 0-0 2, Porter 7-13 1-1 18. Totals 28-66 17-20 78.

Idaho State (5-7) - Lands 3-9 10-12 16, Harwell 5-7 9-10 19, Green 8-15 4-7 20, Preston 3-9 3-7 9, Tarber 5-9 0-0 12, Artis 0-0 0-0 0, Lee 0-1 1-2 1, Blake 0-1 0-0 0, Brown 0-0 1-2 1, MacArthur 0-0 0-0 0, Maxwell 1-1 1-1 3. Totals 25-52 29-41 81.

Halftime-E. Washington 34, Idaho St. 29. 3-Point goals-E. Washington 5-15 (Porter 3-4, Rideout 1-2, King 1-6, Egan 0-1, Carter 0-2), ISU 2-8 (Tarber 2-4, Preston 0-1, Lands 0-3). Fouled out-Rideout. Rebounds-E. Washington 41 (Dean 10), ISU 32 (Preston 9). Assists-E. Washington 18 (King 5), ISU 11 (Tarber 5). Total fouls-E. Washington 29, ISU 17. A-3,665.

, DataTimes