Eagles Still The One

It was a far cry from six days ago, but the end result was the same as the Eastern Washington men’s basketball team completed a season sweep of Portland State with a 70-66 victory over the Vikings Friday at Memorial Coliseum.

The win kept the Eagles, who have won nine of their last 10 games, alone in first place in the Big Sky Conference at 8-2 (11-9 overall).

Eastern Washington expected a battle against the Vikings, although the Eagles hammered the Vikings (12-10, 4-6 Big Sky) last Saturday. In this one, the Eagles led nearly the entire game, but had to withstand a late charge by the Vikings.

“We expected them to come out hard because they’re a solid team,” said guard Aaron Olson, who led the Eagles with 17 points.

“You’re always surprised when you beat a Big Sky team by 30 points, but we knew they’d be ready tonight.”

Olson scored 12 of his points in the second half. Those 12 points included two crucial 3-pointers and a clutch free throw with 2.5 seconds left.

The Eagles led 67-66 after a 3-pointer by Portland State guard Derek Nesland with four seconds left, but the Vikings immediately called a timeout they didn’t have and were assessed a technical foul. Jamal Jones made both shots and then Olson was fouled.

The Vikings trailed by as many as 15 points in the second half, and were down 57-44 with six minutes left. Portland State scored the next six points, including four on a pair of layups by Nesland, to make it 57-50. Anthony Lackey had a steal and dunk, and then hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 61-57 with 2:55 left, and the 1,742 fans started to make some noise.

“They got the crowd into the game and had all the momentum,” Eastern Washington coach Steve Aggers said. “But we didn’t panic.”

Eagles center Chris White scored twice inside to make it 65-59 with 1:39 left, and Eastern Washington made five of seven free throws down the stretch.

White, forward Kareem Hunter and point guard Deon Williams sat out most of the first half with two fouls each and combined for only seven points in the first half.

Hunter was big in the second half, finishing with 13 points, including two free throws after the Vikings had cut the lead to 65-63. He added nine rebounds.

“After a big blowout win, sometimes you come out and have a couple days of practice where you’re kind of off,” Hunter said.

“Especially when you know you have to play the same team again. We needed this to show that the first game wasn’t a fluke.”

The game was close throughout the first half until Eastern Washington went on a 10-0 run - capped by a 3-pointer and a jumper by Olson - near the end of the half to make it 32-22. The Vikings, however, came back on Kevin Briggs’ 3-pointer and Luke Dean’s rebound basket to make it 32-27 at halfime.

“Saturday’s game had nothing to do with this game,” Aggers said. “This was a hard-fought Big Sky basketball game.”

The Eagles return home for games against Idaho State on Thursday and Sacramento State on Saturday. They are the bottom two teams in the conference, but Eastern Washington struggled against both earlier this season.

The Eagles lost 64-61 at Sacramento State, and barely beat Idaho State 70-69 when Ryan Hanson hit a halfcourt shot at the buzzer.

Eastern Washington 70, Portland St. 66

E. Washington (11-9) - Hunter 4-6 5-5 13, White 4-5 0-0 8, Williams 1-5 0-0 2, Hansen 3-9 3-5 12, Olson 5-11 3-4 17, Fitzgerald 3-8 0-0 7, Jones 1-7 2-2 5, Quinto 2-3 0-0 4, McKie 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 24-57 13-16 70.

Portland St. (12-10) - Artharee 3-5 0-1 6, Lackey 3-6 0-0 8, Huld 0-2 1-2 1, Nesland 8-20 3-4 20, Garner 4-4 0-0 8, Floyd 2-6 1-3 6, Dean 1-5 0-0 2, DeGrenier 3-6 0-0 7, Briggs 3-5 1-2 8. Totals 27-59 6-12 66.

Halftime-E. Washington 32, Portland St. 27. 3-Point goals-E. Washington 9-26 (Olson 4-9, Hansen 3-7, Fitzgerald 1-2, Jones 1-6, Williams 0-2), Portland St. 6-19 (Lackey 2-4, Briggs 1-2, Floyd 1-2, DeGrenier 1-3, Nesland 1-7, Dean 0-1). Fouled out-Williams, Artharee. Rebounds-E. Washington 35 (Hunter 9), Portland St. 36 (Dean 9). Assists-E. Washington 19 (Jones 7), Portland St. 13 (Nesland 4). Total fouls-E. Washington 16, Portland St. 19. Technicals-Portland St. bench. A-1,742.

Montana 71, Idaho State 64

Matt Williams had 22 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Grizzlies (13-9, 8-3 Big Sky) past the Bengals (6-16, 1-10) at Pocatello, Idaho.

Their sixth straight win kept the Grizzlies in second place in the Big Sky Conference, trailing Eastern Washington by half a game with three weeks to go.