Scoreboard, Not Intensity, Proves To Be Eagles’ Doom

Try as he might, Steve Aggers couldn’t erase the mantal image of the scoreboard just outside Eastern Washington’s locker room.

It read: Montana 73, EWU 69.

And that’s why Aggers, the Eagles’ second-year coach, couldn’t let himself derive even the least bit of satisfaction from one of the most inspired late-game comebacks in the school’s history.

“Great comebacks don’t count unless you win the game,” he said Saturday night after watching his slow-starting Eagles courageously lop 21 points off a 23-point Montana lead in the final 10 minutes, only to drop a second consecutive Big Sky Conference heart-breaker at home.

“Yeah, it was a great comeback, and, yeah, we did the things we had to do, but we just didn’t play hard enough in the first half,” said Aggers.

The Eagles (6-10 overall, 2-4 in the Big Sky), who lost to Montana State 82-78 Thursday night, started tentatively against the Grizzlies (11-7, 3-3) and paid dearly for their sin.

UM dominated early behind the quickness of guards J.R. Camel and Kirk Walker and sprinted to a 17-9 lead that grew to 54-25 less than 5 minutes into the second half.

But the Eagles somehow discovered the energy - and collective shooting touch - to stage a wonderfully entertaining comeback that left Grizzlies coach Blaine Taylor, his players and most of those in a season-high Reese Court crowd of 2,118 emotionally drained.

“The last 10 minutes, I don’t think that we played that poorly,” said a relieved Taylor. “They just played out of their heads.”

Junior guard Michael Lewis, returning from a four-game layoff to recover from a severe ankle sprain, seemed to ignite EWU’s late surge with a 3-pointer that cut Montana’s lead to 63-46 with 8:53 remaining.

Three minutes later, he sandwiched another long-range jumper between a pair of 3-pointers by freshman Stephen Moss-Kelley, and when Karim Scott hit from the baseline with just under 3 minutes left, the Eagles were within 68-64.

A 3-pointer by EWU’s Travis King made it 70-67 and when Scott answered a Camel free throw with a bucket on a tough baseline shot with 30 seconds left, the Eagles were down two, 71-69.

But a pair of clutch free throws by UM’s Chris Spoja and King’s miss on a long 3-point try decided it.

“You just can’t let a team come in here and have the kind of start they had,” Aggers said of the Grizzlies, who hit seven of their first 12 shots. “I thought Camel and Walker dribble-penetrated to the goal and broke our defense down early in the first half.

“We just couldn’t contain the ball and stop them, and that’s frustrating, because that was part of our game plan. We knew we had to do that to win the game.”

Spoja, who had scored only 16 points in Montana’s first five conference games, led all scorers with 17. Walker and Eric Bowie each added 12 for the Grizzlies.

The Eagles were paced offensively by Scott, who finished with 15 points. King and Lewis each added 12.

Lewis said he thought most of EWU’s early problems were mental.

“We’ve got to come out and play hard from the start, instead of playing hard just because we’re way behind and afraid we’re going to lose,” he said.

“Finally we stepped up our intensity at about the 12-minute mark of the second half,” Aggers added. “We just started playing harder, and that’s what it’s all about - playing harder.”

Montana 73, E. Washington 69

Montana (11-7) - Spoja 4-7 8-10 17, Dick 1-3 2-2 4, Olson 4-9 2-3 11, Walker 4-11 2-2 12, Camel 3-8 2-6 8, Bowie 4-7 2-3 12, Dade 1-5 3-4 5, Warhank 0-2 0-0 0, Seidensticker 0-2 0-0 0, Carter 2-2 0-0 4, Davis 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-56 21-30 73.

E. Washington (6-10) - Sims 1-6 2-2 3, Scott 7-12 1-2 15, K. Lewis 5-8 1-2 11, King 4-15 0-0 12, Egan 0-1 0-0 0, Moss-Kelley 4-7 0-0 10, Garcille 0-1 0-0 0, Claus 0-1 0-0 0, Berger 1-2 0-0 2, M. Lewis 4-8 2-2 12, Turner 0-1 4-4 4. Totals 26-62 9-12 69.

Halftime-Montana 40, E. Washington 23. 3-Point goals-Montana 6-16 (Spoja 1-2, Olson 1-2, Walker 2-6, Bowie 2-4, Seidensticker 0-2), E. Washington 8-20 (King 4-12, Egan 0-1, Moss-Kelley 2-4, M. Lewis 2-3). Fouled out-Olson, Egan. Rebounds-Montana 39 (Olson 6), E. Washington 37 (K. Lewis 10). Assists-Montana 14 (Spoja, Dick, Walker and Camel, 3 each), E. Washington 15 (King 5). Total fouls-Montana 12, E. Washington 23. A-2,118. , DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo