Eagles Take Another Step Toward Respect Of Peers Not Long After 3-23 Season, Eastern Savors 34-Point Victory

As excitement goes, this was the basketball equivalent of the Dole campaign, but coach Steve Aggers and his Eastern Washington Eagles savored their 89-55 victory over the game Western Montana Bulldogs Tuesday night at Reese Court.

After all, the Eagles aren’t that far removed from 34-point losses themselves. Coming off a 3-23 season any kind of win is worth celebrating.

When you’ve averaged five wins a year for the last five years and are no stranger to losing to NAIA schools, like Western Montana, a 2-1 start at Eastern is news.

“We’re trying to build a home-court advantage,” said Aggers, who watched 10 of the 12 players he used score extensively.

“The way to build home-court advantage is to defend and rebound. I thought we played pretty good defense early and handled their zone early.”

Because they did, it was over early, the Eagles registering the game’s first seven points on the way to a 16-2 lead just 4:30 into the game. Mike Sims and Rodrick McClure each had 6 of the 16 points, as the Eagles established a comfort zone that they protected with active man-to-man defense.

Guard Travis Green came off the bench to knock down 7 of 8 shots and lead with 20 points in 18 minutes.

Kevin Lewis, the 6-10 junior center that Aggers hopes will be a force in the Big Sky, had a so-so eight points with five rebounds.

That didn’t stop senior Luke Egan, who’s been down a lot of dead-end roads with Eastern teams of the past, from predicting big things for the transfer from Kansas State.

“Most of the big guys in the Sky are ‘four’ men (power forwards),” said Egan, who had nine points in a reserve role. “(Lewis is) wiry - he’s skinny - but he’s strong, with a nice little jump hook. I predict he will be All-Big Sky. Not many 6-10 guys can run the floor and jump out of the gym like he can.

“I don’t think he was feeling well tonight,” Egan added. “I don’t think you saw the player you’ll see later.” Egan enjoyed the romp, knowing how it feels to be on the down side of 89-55 games.

“As everybody knows, our records have stunk the last couple years,” he said. “Teams we play aren’t going to respect us, which is fair enough because we haven’t been that good. I think we have a lot more depth and more athletes. We can be a sleeper team in the Big Sky.”

Reserve Shawn Stroeder led the Bulldogs with 11 points. Casey O’Keefe, a 6-9 center, had 10.

The Eagles play at San Diego State Saturday night and at home Wednesday against Cal State Irvine.

EWU 89, Western Montana 55

WESTERN MONTANA (0-3) - Kunz 3-6 0-2 9, Rebsom 3-7 1-3 7, O’Keefe 2-9 6-8 10, Hegstad 2-3 0-1 4, Flynn 0-3 0-0 0, Robinson 0-1 0-0 0, Schenk 3-8 0-0 6, Schroeder 4-7 0-0 11, Allen 3-9 0-0 6, Ketcham 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 21-56 7-14 55.

EASTERN WASHINGTON (2-1) - Sims 4-7 3-6 11, Scott 3-5 3-5 9, K. Lewis 3-8 2-3 8, McClure 4-6 0-0 11, M. Lewis 1-3 0-0 3, Moss-Kelley 1-3 1-2 4, Garcille 0-5 0-0 0, King 7-8 2-2 18, Claus 0-0 0-0 0, Egan 3-5 2-2 9, Berger 4-8 0-1 8, Turner 4-7 0-5 8. Totals 34-65 13-26 89.

Halftime-E. Washington 47, W. Montana 22. 3-Point goals- W. Montana 6-16 (Kuz 3-4, Schenk 0-5, Schroeder 3-5, Allen 0-2), E. Washington 8-15 (McClure 3-4, M. Lewis 1-2, Moss-Kelley 1-2, King 2-3, Egan 1-2, Berger 0-2). Fouled out-W. Montana, Rebsom. Rebounds-W. Montana 32 (Kunz 7), E. Washington 46 (Berger 9). Assists-W. Montana 9 (Hegstad 5), E. Washington 24 (McClure 7). Total fouls-W. Montana 21, E. Washington 16. A-1,064.

, DataTimes