Eastern Races Past Matadors After A Downer Against Nau, Eagles Get Up For 85-77 Victory

Steve Aggers might have stirred some doubt among Eastern Washington men’s basketball followers last Saturday when he said there would be no panic on the homefront.

Aggers’ Eagles were coming off a 35-point home loss to Northern Arizona and looked like a team already waiting for another long season to end. But Monday night, they backed up Aggers’ claim by racing past Cal State Northridge 85-77 in front of a Reese Court crowd of 1,017.

Senior forward Karim Scott scored 24 points, junior guard Shannon Taylor added 18 and sophomore point guard Deon Williams chipped in 14 along with a career-high 11 assists as Eastern raised its overall record to 7-5 and evened its Big Sky Conference mark at 1-1.

“I was really proud of the way we came back after a lackluster effort against NAU,” Aggers said just moments after his Eagles matched last year’s victory total with 14 regular-season games remaining.

“I thought our energy level and intensity were really good tonight, and even when we made some errors, we played through them because of our intensity.

“This game is so easy when you play hard.”

Northridge coach Bobby Braswell, while disappointed in the play of his Matadors (4-8, 0-2), said he understood Aggers’ sense of pride.

“He should be (proud),” Braswell said. “It showed a lot of character on his team’s part to come back after a loss like they had against NAU. Steve Aggers has done a great job here.”

The difference in the Eagles’ effort was remarkable. Even with starting sophomore center Jason Humbert sidelined for six to eight weeks with a broken hand suffered in the NAU game, Eastern still outrebounded the Matadors 42-34. They were quick when they needed to be and never once backed down when things got physical.

They handled the ball well against Northridge’s pressure defense and held the Matadors almost 10 points below their season scoring average of nearly 86 point per game.

Despite being forced to go with a much smaller lineup than he envisioned at the start of the season, Aggers decided to pound the ball inside against the even shorter Matadors.

Scott made three of Eastern’s nine 3-pointers, but also scored on an assortment of moves including a couple of reverse dunks inside. And senior guard Mike Lewis, playing the No. 4 spot for the first time this season, gave Aggers seven points, six rebounds and 28 solid minutes.

“They’re a hard team to match up against because they’re so small,” Aggers said of the Matadors. “We thought we had a size advantage so we went to an inside power offense and we were really successful getting the ball inside.”

Northridge played the first half without starting center Jabari Simmons, who was disciplined for missing curfew. Simmons scored only nine points and had just two rebounds.

Greg Minor led the Matadors with 21 points, while Mike O’Quinn added 14 points, along with a team-high 14 rebounds.

Eastern built its 42-33 halftime lead, which came courtesy of Williams’ 55-foot heave just before the buzzer, to 57-43 midway through the second half and never let Northridge within six after that. The Eagles also made 9 of 10 free throws in the final minute.

EWU 85, CS Northridge 77

Cal State Northridge (4-8, 0-2) - Holmes 5-8 0-0 12, Parris 2-4 2-6 6, Taylor 0-0 2-2 2, Minor 5-14 7-7 21, Grundy 2-7 2-2 6, Cross 2-6 2-5 7, O’Quinn 6-13 2-3 14, Harper 0-0 0-0 0, Heinle 0-1 0-0 0, Hagens 0-1 0-0 0, Simmons 3-6 3-5 9. Totals 25-60 20-30 77.

Eastern Washington (7-5, 1-1) - M.Lewis 2-8 3-4 7, Scott 8-13 5-6 24, Sims 2-4 0-0 4, Williams 4-12 4-4 14, Taylor 4-13 8-10 18, McGee 3-4 4-4 12, Claus 0-0 0-0 0, K.Lewis 1-1 1-2 3, White 1-2 1-2 3. Totals 25-57 26-32 85.

Halftime - Eastern Washington 42, Cal State Northridge 33. 3-point goals - Cal State Northridge 7-19 (Holmes 2-3, Minor 4-9, Trenton 1-2, Grundy 0-1, Simmons 0-1, O’Quinn 0-3), Eastern Washington 9-16 (Scott 3-3, McGee 2-2, Williams 2-4, Taylor 2-6, M.Lewis 0-1). Fouled out - Cal State Northridge (2) Parris, Minor, Eastern Washington (1) M.Lewis. Rebounds - Cal State Northridge 34 (O’Quinn 8), Eastern Washington 42 (M.Lewis 6, Scott 6, Sims 6, K.Lewis 6). Assists - Cal State Northridge 9 (Minor 3), Eastern Washington 18 (Williams 11). Total fouls - Cal State Northridge 24, Eastern Washington 23. Technicals - None. A - 1017.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo