Hansen Enjoys His Final Fling
It was a shot Ryan Hansen has taken a thousand times.
In his backyard. In the gym during practice. And in his dreams, where he never misses.
But when his buzzer-beating, half-court heave ripped through the net Thursday in Pocatello, Idaho, it touched off an explosion of emotion that neither Hansen nor his Eastern Washington teammates could have imagined.
“It was an amazing feeling, just incredible,” Hansen, a 6-foot-2 senior guard, recalled of his 55-foot miracle that lifted the Eagles to a 70-69 win over Idaho State in the Big Sky Conference men’s basketball opener for both teams. “We were all just kind of in awe after it happened.
“We didn’t really know what to say to each other.”
The game-winning shot, which was selected as one of ESPN’s Plays of the Week, came less than a second after ISU had taken a 69-67 lead on a tip-in by Kevin Sweetwyne. It was set up by a long in-bounds pass from Dennis Fitzgerald.
“It (the pass) was designed to go to Deon (Williams), but he was double-covered,” Hansen explained. “I just tried to get open, and once I caught it, I kind of turned and threw it up.
“As soon as I released it, I was thinking, `Wow, that might go in. That looks pretty good.’ And when it went through, it was just an amazing feeling.”
The shot, which came a couple steps short of the 10-second line that divides the court, wasn’t the first Hansen has made at the buzzer to win a game. But it was the longest.
“I’ve taken deep shots before to win a game, but nothing like that,” said the former prep star from Leavenworth, who scored 2,411 points - the most of any boys high school player in state history - during a stellar career at Cascade High.
“In the gym, growing up, you always kind of imagine yourself in that situation. I’ve done things like that before in practice - shooting half-courters and counting the seconds down in your head.
But nothing like that has ever happened to me in a game.”
The important thing now, Hansen added, is to build on the shot and the tough, thrilling road victory it produced.
“Any time you win on the road, it’s great,” he said. “But it makes it even more important that you protect your home court, because if you lose on your home court, that one on the road didn’t mean a thing.”
Eastern (4-7, 1-0) plays its Big Sky home opener tonight at 7:05 against Northern Arizona (6-7, 0-2) at Reese Court. Cal State Northridge (10-3, 2-0) comes in for a Saturday night matchup that also will start at 7:05.
The ISU win, Hansen said, was only “step one.”
“This is a huge weekend for us coming up,” he explained. “We’ve got two of the top teams in the league coming in, and we’re going to be ready for them.”
Dons’ early light
The University of San Francisco (12-1), which has won 12 straight since suffering a season-opening loss to Maryland, faces one of its toughest tests of the season tonight when it opens West Coast Conference play against two-time defending champion Gonzaga.
Tipoff is set for 7 at Martin Centre, and Dons coach Philip Mathews seems anything but intimidated.
This year’s team, Mathews insists, is even better than the one that upset GU in the championship game of the 1998 WCC tournament and advanced to the NCAAs.
“It’s the most talented team I’ve had,” said the Dons’ fifth-year coach. “As far as experience goes, though, no. That team from two years ago was highly experienced. We had five fifth-year seniors, who were battle-tested and knew what to expect.”
This year’s team, Mathews explained, is playing with great chemistry and confidence.
“And if we keep playing the way I think we can, our best basketball is still ahead of us,” he added.
Grizzly developments
The ranks on Don Holst’s University of Montana roster thinned dramatically when sophomore Ryan Slider quit the team and junior-college transfer Deldre Carr, who was expected to join the Grizzlies for the remainder of the season, ruptured an Achilles’ tendon in his first day of practice.
“You feel a little snake-bit, but that’s just the nature of things,” Holst told the Missoulian of Carr’s season-ending injury, which occurred when a teammate stepped on the back of his foot on Thursday.
Carr, from Las Vegas, originally signed with San Diego and redshirted as a freshman before transferring to Palomar Junior College in San Marcos, Calif. The 6-foot-4 guard is a sophomore with two years of eligibility remaining.
“He can really shoot it,” Holst said. “We’ll see what his progress is. He wants to come back and that’s what we’re planning on.”
Things starting looking up again Tuesday, when Slider asked for and received permission to return.
Three-pointers
Saint Mary’s star Brad Millard, a 7-foot-3, 345-pound senior center who was suspended for last Saturday’s non-conference game at UC Santa Barbara for breaking a team rule, is expected to be reinstated for Friday’s WCC opener at Pepperdine. “We suspended him for conduct detrimental to our team goals,” said coach Dave Bollwinkel. “I fully plan on him playing this weekend.” … Pepperdine’s road `win at Northwestern Saturday was the first by a WCC over a Big Ten opponent since 1974, when Saint Mary’s won 62-60 at Wisconsin… . Gonzaga’s Richie Frahm ranked No. 7 on the WCC’s career 3-point list with 233. He needs seven more to pass Dave Sivulich (238) of Saint Mary’s and Pepperdine’s Damin Lopez (239)… . Northern Arizona outshot (48.9-37.3) and outrebounded (43-33) Cal State Northridge on Thursday, but lost the game 69-66 after turning the ball over 28 times to CSUN’s 10. The Matadors had 15 steals in the game.
This sidebar appeared with the story:
TONIGHT’S GAMES
WCC
San Francisco at Gonzaga
Santa Clara at Portland
Big Sky
N. Arizona at EWU
CSUN at Portland St.
Idaho St. at Montana
Weber St. at Montana St.