Holmstadt, Msu Keep Eastern Men In Late-Season Dive

Eastern Washington continued its late-season free-fall Thursday night by dropping an 83-65 Big Sky Conference men’s basketball decision to Montana State at Worthington Arena.

The loss was the 10th in a row for the reeling Eagles (6-18, 2-12 in the Big Sky), and the 10th in their last 10 meetings with the defending league-champion Bobcats (15-11, 9-5).

It came despite a career-high 19 points from senior guard Luke Egan and left the Eagles buried in the Big Sky cellar, a half-game behind Cal State Sacramento.

MSU, which beat Eastern 82-78 earlier in the year in Cheney, broke open a close game with an early second-half surge and kept its hopes alive for a No. 2 seed and first-round bye in the Big Sky Tournament.

Center Nate Holmstadt paced the Bobcats offensively with 20 points, followed by Dan Sullivan with 15 and Scott Harry with 11.

Eastern also got a productive night from Mike Sims, who scored 14 points, grabbed six rebounds and blocked two shots.

But the Eagles, who close out their road trip at Montana Saturday night, had only one other player - Travis King, with 13 points - score in double figures.

Montana St. 83, EWU 65

Eastern Washington (6-18, 2-12) - Egan 6-14 5-5 19, Scott 3-10 3-4 9, Sims 6-11 2-4 14, King 3-11 5-7 13, Lewis 3-10 0-0 6, Moss-Kelly 0-0 0-0 0, Claus 0-1 0-0 0, Turner 0-2 0-2 0, Berger 2-3 0-0 4. Totals 23-62 15-22 65.

Montana State (15-12, 9-5) - Harry 4-11 0-0 9, Claxton 4-6 2-2 11, Holmstadt 8-11 4-4 20, Rabb 1-6 0-0 2, Fay 3-6 2-4 9, Williams 1-3 0-0 3, Henry 3-5 2-6 8, Sullivan 5-8 2-2 15, Lazosky 0-0 0-0 0, Badding 0-2 0-0 0, Ollie 2-11 2-2 6. Totals 31-69 14-20 83.

Halftime-Montana St. 40, E. Washington 36. 3-point goals- EWU 4-12 (Egan 2-4, King 2-7, Klaus 0-1), MSU 7-13 (Sullivan 3-4, Williams 1-1, Fay 1-1, Claxton 1-2, Harry 1-3). Fouled out- none. Rebounds-EWU 36 (Scott 8), MSU 47 (Harry 8). Assists- EWU 12 (King, Klaus, 4), MSU 20 (Harry 4). Total fouls-EWU 16, MSU 16. A-4,122.

, DataTimes