Cold-Shooting Eastern Lands In Consolation Game
Holding high-scoring LaSalle 18 points below its average wasn’t quite enough for Eastern Washington University, which dropped a 67-59 men’s basketball decision to the Explorers on Friday in a first-round game of the Boilermaker Invitational.
That Eastern scored only 59 points said a lot to Eagles coach Steve Aggers.
“We played a team that had been averaging right at 85 points per game and held them to 67. We just have to score better ourselves,” Aggers said.
But there’s more to the story than just the obvious.
“We improved defensively a great deal. The practices we had Monday and Tuesday gave us a chance to improve and work on our defensive game,” Aggers said.
“Our shooters’ confidence is shaken a little bit, and we have to make sure we get their confidence level back up and practice hard. I’m sure our shooters will come around. When you play in a great tournament like this, you’re going to run into some quality teams.”
One such quality team, Purdue, defeated Valparaiso 78-70 in Friday’s other game. Purdue and LaSalle will play for the championship today, after Eastern and Valparaiso meet in the consolation game.
Donnie Carr led LaSalle with 27 points Friday.
Eastern Washington (1-5), which made 21 of 65 field-goal attempts, was led by Chris Johnson with 10 points.
K’Zell Wesson had 18 points and Victor Thomas 16 for LaSalle, which broke the game open with 12 consecutive points in the second half.
The run began after EWU’s Chris White hit a jumper that gave the Eagles a 42-41 lead with 13:28 left.
EWU got within 59-54 with 1:32 left on a White jumper, but LaSalle scored eight points from the freethrow line in the final 64 seconds.
LaSalle 67, E. Washington 59
LaSalle (2-4) - Thomas 4-11 8-12 16, Jordan 0-1 2-2 2, Wesson 8-14 2-7 18, Carr 8-19 9-12 27, Blanks 2-7 0-0 4, Jones 0-3 0-0 0, Collins 0-3 0-0 0, Peebles 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-58 21-33 67.
E. Washington (1-5) - Levy 1-6 0-0 2, Taylor 2-11 0-0 6, Johnson 3-5 4-6 10, Williams 3-8, 0-0 7, Walker 2-7 2-2 7, McGee 1-3 2-2 4, Quinto 2-4 0-0 5, Hansen 2-7 3-3 8, Fitzgerald 1-3 0-0 2, White 4-11 0-0 8. Totals 21-65 11-13 59.
Halftime-Lasalle 28, E. Washington 27. 3-Point goals-LaSalle 2-21 (Thomas 0-4, Carr 2-9, Blanks 0-5, Jones 0-3), E. Washington 6-25 (Levy 0-3, Taylor 2-9, Williams 1-2, Walker 1-5, McGee 0-1, Quinto 1-1, Hansen 1-3, Fitzgerald 0-1). Fouled out-Levy, Taylor, Jordan. Rebounds-LaSalle 51 (Wesson 17), E. Washington 37 (Levy 8). Assists-LaSalle 13 (Carr 6), E. Washington 13 (Williams 6). Total fouls-LaSalle 13, E. Washington 26. A-NA.
LaSalle 67 Eastern 59 Next: Today vs. Valparaiso, 3:30 p.m. PST