Eagles Have Hands Full Before Overcoming Cavs
It had been nearly 20 minutes since his Eagles had stepped around a college basketball land mine on Reese Court, but Eastern Washington coach Steve Aggers was still shaking his head and wondering.
As in, what are we doing playing an NAIA Division II team as good as this?
“I’ll tell you what,” Aggers said, still searching for his first deep breath following the Eagles’ season-opening 86-76 win over Concordia University from Portland. “I’m not sure we’ll play a team the rest of this season that will play any better as a team than Concordia did.
“They played extremely well and really executed their offense. This was a good game for us. It will help us, I hope.”
Indeed, it could - as long as the Eagles don’t suffer a confidence meltdown after struggling so mightily to put away the Cavaliers (2-1). Sophomore guard Tony McGee led a quartet of double-figure scorers for the Eagles, throwing in 16 points, and point guard Deon Williams finished with 11 points and nine assists. But nothing seemed to come easy against an experienced Concordia team that figures to play a major role in this year’s NAIA Division II national title picture.
“When I took over here (four years ago), I said it was going to take five years for us to get to the point where we could compete for the national tournament in NAIA,” Cavaliers coach Brad Barbarick said. “And we’re there right now.”
There’s no doubt CU has the potential to evolve into an NAIA monster. The Cavs had the best player on the floor Monday night in 24-year-old junior forward Alphonso Niles, a two-time NAIA All-American and former All-Army and All-Armed Forces player, who scored 16 points and pulled down 13 rebounds.
It was the third consecutive double-double for the 6-foot-7, 220-pounder, who exhibits the rare combination of inside muscle and a deft mid-range shooting touch.
“He was a man tonight,” Aggers said of Niles, who also had four assists and two steals. “He could start for any team in the Big Sky Conference.”
Still, the Eagles found a way to win - thanks mainly to an early second-half burst that produced a 57-39 lead with 15:39 left in the game. Six different players scored during the 16-3 run that seemed to decide things.
Eastern, which got 13 points from Jason Humbert and 11 points and 10 rebounds from junior transfer Dennis Fitzgerald, built its lead to 69-48 a couple of minutes later, but Concordia never panicked.
The Cavaliers stayed with their disciplined half-court offense and took advantage of several ill-advised fouls and a 48-34 rebounding advantage to mount a determined comeback.
“This was the kind of game we can learn something from,” Aggers said. “I’d rather play someone like this than some easy team that loses by 40.”
Eastern 86 Concordia 76 Next: Saturday vs. San Diego, 7:05 p.m.