Williams Turns In Complete Effort In Eastern’S Upset

It wasn’t as if Deon Williams needed more to do Thursday night.

Eastern Washington’s junior point guard was in the process of putting together perhaps his most complete game of the season - eight points, 11 assists, seven rebounds and two steals.

Still, the Eagles were losing - mainly because no one could keep tabs on Portland State’s Jason Hartman, a 6-foot-7, 230-pound mobile mass of basketball talent.

So coach Steve Aggers turned to Williams and asked for one more favor: Please try to do something with this Hartman guy.

Williams, despite giving up 5 inches and 50 pounds, responded by shadowing Hartman everywhere he ventured and helped hold him to just nine second-half points as Eastern treated a Reese Court crowd of 1,553 to a 96-87 upset win over the Vikings.

“My gosh,” Aggers said after watching his Eagles avenge last Saturday’s 76-69 loss at Portland State and raise their record to 8-12 overall and 5-5 in the Big Sky Conference. “Deon had just a great game. And he did an outstanding job on Hartman defensively.”

Hartman, who scored 32 in the first meeting between the two schools, finished with a season-high 35 this night. But 26 of those came in the first half before Williams inherited the task of defending the former University of Washington player, who came in having scored 90 points in his last three games.

Eastern couldn’t locate Hartman in the first 20 minutes, and he responded by knocking down five of eight 3-pointers in helping PSU (14-6, 7-3) to a 46-40 halftime lead. Shooting guard Brian Towne, another fifth-year senior, drilled four first-half 3-pointers and at intermission, he and Hartman had combined for all but six of the Vikings’ points.

“We just didn’t defend the perimeter very well,” Aggers said.

In the second half, though, Hartman and Towne cooled considerably and the Eagles clawed back behind the outside shooting of Shannon Taylor and Ryan Hansen.

Taylor, who came off the bench for the first time this season, scored 21 of his 29 points in the second half and Hansen, who also did an outstanding defensive job on Towne, added nine of his 16.

Junior forward Will Levy contributed a career-high 18 points on 8-for-8 shooting.

“They hit some big shots they didn’t hit at our place,” said first-year Portland State coach Joel Sobotka. “Shannon played a lot better. We lost him a few times, which was a breakdown on our part.”

As for Williams’ defensive effort on Hartman, Sobotka said little. But he made it clear he thought Williams got away with several muggings inside.

“It’s just frustrating,” he said. “Usually (Hartman) gets to the free-throw line. The second half, he couldn’t get there, so I guess it was probably a great job defensively.

“That’s just the way the game goes, and you’ve got to adjust.”

Aggers admitted the officials let both teams play. But he added that Williams’ quickness - not his muscle - was the difference.

“He fronted him, kept the ball away from him and even stole a couple of lob passes,” Aggers said. “They let ‘em play, sure, but I just thought Deon did a great job on him.”

Eastern trailed 73-67 with 8 minutes left, but used a pair of 3-pointers from Taylor to draw even at 76. Perhaps the biggest shot of the game came at the 2-minute mark when Hansen, running the baseline on a set play, popped out to the left corner and drained a tough, fall-away 3-pointer that put the Eagles up 87-82.

“This was just a great confidence booster for our team,” said Aggers, whose Eagles had lost four of their previous five games, including two heartbreakers at home. “It keeps us in the race for the playoffs.”

EWU 96, Portland St. 87

Portland St. (14-6) - Nesland 3-7 2-2 10, Hartman 11-24 7-11 35, Artharee 3-7 2-2 8, Ball 2-7 1-2 5, Towne 7-14 2-2 21, Snook 0-2 0-0 0, Garner 1-1 0-0 3, Lackey 2-5 0-0 5, James 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-67 14-19 87.

E. Washington (8-12) - Levy 8-8 2-4 18, Hansen 6-8 0-0 16, White 3-5 2-2 8, Williams 2-3 2-5 8, McGee 1-3 0-0 2, Quinto 1-3 0-0 2, Walker 0-1 1-2 1, Taylor 7-16 8-11 29, Carcamo 3-5 2-2 8, Fitzgerald 0-1 0-0 0, Johnson 2-6 0-1 4. Totals 33-59 17-27 96.

Halftime-Portland St. 46, E. Washington 40. 3-Point goals-Portland St. 15-34 (Nesland 2-4, Hartman 6-13, Ball 0-3, Towne 5-9, Snook 0-1, Garner 1-1, Lackey 1-3), E. Washington 13-24 (Hansen 4-6, Williams 2-2, McGee 0-1, Walker 0-1, Taylor 7-13, Fitzgerald 0-1). Fouled out-Towne. Rebounds- Portland St. 42 (Artharee 15), E. Washington 30 (Levy 8). Assists-Portland St. 22 (Nesland 7), E. Washington 26 (Williams 11). Total fouls-Portland St. 20, E. Washington 17. Technicals-Artharee, Hasan. A-NA.