Reversal Of Form Improved Defense Keys Eagles Victory
REPLAY: Sports, January 27, 1998: EWU basketball player Karim Scott was misidentified driving for a basket in a photo caption on page C1 of Saturday’s Washington edition.
Three-game losing streaks have hardly been cause for concern around the Eastern Washington men’s basketball program lately.
With the Eagles having won no more than seven games in any one season since 1991, they’ve been as commonplace as enrollment shortfalls.
But with the improvement Eastern has made under third-year coach Steve Aggers, fans and players have elevated their expectations. That’s why Friday night’s 75-64 Big Sky Conference victory over Weber State was especially satisfying to Aggers, his Eagles and the majority of those in a rambunctious Reese Court crowd of 1,381.
Eastern’s victory not only avenged a 97-81 road loss to the Wildcats (7-11 overall, 5-3 Big Sky) less than two weeks ago, but also snapped a modest three-game skid and kept the Eagles (9-8, 3-4) from dropping below .500 for the first time this season.
“It was just a really good win for us,” Aggers said. “We’ve been in a little bit of a funk. I was happy for our players after we got beat as bad as we did over there.”
The difference in the two games, Aggers said, was the defensive intensity of his Eagles, who let Wildcats guard Damien Baskerville go off for 35 points in the first meeting. This time Baskerville finished with 20 points to lead all scorers, but it was a quiet 20.
Junior forward Karim Scott drew the assignment of guarding the 6-foot-3 Baskerville, just like he did in Ogden, Utah.
“But I played softer on him this time, because he’s a driver,” explained the 6-6 Scott, who had two steals and three blocks to go with his team-high 16 points. “The first time I was on him tight and he was going through screens and I was trailing him. This time I just let him come to me.”
Weber State coach Ron Abegglen had no problem with Baskerville’s production, which included 7-for-14 shooting from the field, a perfect 6-for-6 night at the foul line and 10 rebounds.
“If we’d have had two more of him, we’d have been all right,” he said.
The Wildcats’ biggest problem was the death of their collective shooting touch. Even with Baskerville’s solid performance, Weber made just 25 of 69 field-goal attempts and 12 of 20 foul shots.
The Cats did not make a 3-pointer in the first half when they fell behind 38-26 and finished 2 for 18 in 3’s.
“We were not taking good, quality shots,” Abegglen said. “We were in a little bit of a panic. I think we were taking hope shots.”
Eastern showed splendid scoring balance throughout the game and finished with four players in double figures. Senior center Jon Berger, in only his third game back from a broken foot, scored 15 points, while Michael Lewis and Mike Sims added 11 and 10.
The Eagles took advantage of Weber’s 4-minute first-half scoring drought to forge a 16-6 lead they never relinquished. The Wildcats closed within 47-41 with a brief six-point run at the 13:07 mark of the second half, but Berger popped outside to hit a medium-range jumper that slowed the charge.
“I thought we controlled the game really well tonight,” Aggers said, noting his team benefited from having only one game this week. “When you have only one team to prepare for and you have three days to practice … we were ready for their half-court trap, and I thought handled their changing defenses well.” The Eagles, who play at Portland State next Saturday, shot 55.2 percent from the field (32 of 58).
“We were able to get the ball to the right guys and make some jumpers early,” Aggers said. “One of the things we thought we had to do was get the early lead and control the tempo, and I thought we did that well.”
Nate Holmstadt had 21 points to lead Montana State (14-4, 6-1) to a 74-56 Big Sky win over Sacramento State (1-15, 0-6) at Bozeman.
Gonzaga’s men’s West Coast Conference game today at the University of San Diego has been switched to a 7:30 p.m. tipoff on Fox Sports Net.
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo