Eagles Flying High In Sky First-Place Eastern Beats Msu With Solid Defense Against 3S

No secret behind Eastern Washington’s latest basketball revelation here Thursday night.

The Eagles, as the TV commentators love to roar, buried the 3.

Not so much their own - though they did that, too. But taking away the 3-point shot from Montana State is like cutting off the Bobcats’ oxygen supply, and that’s exactly what the Eagles accomplished in a 78-75 Big Sky Conference thriller at Worthington Arena.

Helped by Montana’s upset of Portland State in Missoula, the Eagles are alone again atop the Big Sky Conference with a 5-1 mark - three of those victories coming on the road. Only once before in the past decade has Eastern fared so well away from Reese Court; in 1998, the Eagles also won three road stops in the Sky, but this team still has four more cracks to top that.

But in many respects, these Eagles already have.

They won for the first time at Weber State last weekend. On Thursday, they ended a run of nine straight defeats at Worthington, where their overall record was 1-15.

“This is a tough place to play,” said EWU’s Chris White, whose 18 points helped the Eagles even their season record at 8-8. “It’s a good crowd and always a good team. A lot of things can go wrong, but when they went wrong for us, we kept our poise and found a way to win.”

Well, the crowd wasn’t as good as some in Bozeman - 3,422 and fairly quiet, possibly due to the home team leading for just 1:48 of the last 28 minutes. And Eastern’s poise wasn’t watertight; the Eagles saw an 11-point lead wiped out in less than 3 minutes in the late going.

But they certainly found a way to win - the hard way.

The Bobcats are the fourth-best team in the country in shooting the 3-pointer, and yet that’s precisely the weapon Eastern took away - limiting MSU to just 3-of-12 shooting from beyond the arc. That’s the fewest 3s the Bobcats have made in the last 56 games, and the fewest attempted in 58.

“They were switching (screens) on all our No. 1s, 2s and 3s,” said Bobcats forward Aaron Rich. “They were trying to make sure we don’t get our 3-point shots off, because we’re deadly when we do.”

And dead when they don’t.

Oh, the Bobcats (10-9, and 2-4 in the Sky) countered with some effective play inside. Chunky John Lazosky bulled around for a game-high 21 points, and the 6-foot-6 Rich was relentless with 17 points and 15 rebounds. But it was exactly the trade EWU coach Steve Aggers was willing to make.

“You look at this team and it’s better to give up those 2s in the lane than open 3s,” he said. “The open 3s get their crowd in the game, so we were willing to gamble on our one-on-one defense in the post rather than doubling down and giving them open looks. And our perimeter guys just played great defense.”

In Big Sky play, Eastern is the stingiest team in the league when it comes to 3-point defense.

The Eagles are also the most-balanced team in the league when it comes to their own offensive production, and that balance was crucial again Thursday night - along with a 7-of-14 effort from 3-point range, and 49 percent shooting overall. Some examples:

Trailing 20-15 midway through the first half, the Eagles surged ahead on layups by Aaron Olson and White and a dunk by Kareem Hunter - all coming off heady, extra-pass assists by Deon Williams and White.

Unsung forward Dennis Fitzgerald hustled off the bench to score eight points in the final 3:48 of the first half, putting the Eagles up 39-33 at the break.

When the Bobcats rallied to within a point early in the second half, a series of 3s by Williams, Ryan Hansen and Jamal Jones pushed the lead back to eight, at which time White took over to propel the Eagles to a 65-54 advantage with 6:38 remaining.

Regrettably, the Eagles picked that juncture to crank up a couple of early panic shots, commit two untimely turnovers and several fouls - allowing the Bobcats to twice rally back into a tie at 67-all.

But just as suddenly, the Eagles resumed making every play. Williams - just a 53 percent foul shooter on the season - drilled a pair after being fouled on a post-up. Levy slithered in for two huge tip-ins. And Olson coolly converted the clinching free throws with 3.9 seconds remaining.

The Bobcats had a couple of slip-ups - a missed baseline jumper by Jeff Riggs when trailing 75-74, and missed front-ends of two-shot free throws by Jermaine Walton and Riggs, somewhat uncharacteristic in that every Bobcat regular is hitting 75 percent or better from the stripe. “We’re human,” Rich shrugged.

“We’re not going to make all our free throws.”

And the Eagles aren’t going to win all the close ones on the road - but they don’t seem inclined to beat themselves.

“They answered every call,” said MSU coach Mick Durham. “And they played more physical than I’ve seen them. They came out in the first half and really made a pretty good stand.”

EWU 78, Montana State 75

Eastern Washington (8-8) - Olson 3-8 5-5 11, Hunter 2-5 0-0 4, White 7-10 4-6 18, Williams 4-8 4-4 15, Hansen 4-9 0-0 10, Levy 2-6 1-4 5, Jones 2-6 2-2 7, Fitzgerald 3-3 1-1 8. Totals 27-55 17-22 78.

Montana State (10-9) - Brown 4-9 2-2 12, Rich 5-10 7-8 17, Lazosky 9-14 3-3 21, Walton 2-5 5-6 9, Riggs 2-8 5-8 9, Chase 0-0 0-0 0, Conway 1-2 0-0 3, Nicholson 2-5 0-2 4. Totals 25-53 22-29 75.

Halftime-Eastern Washington 39, Montana State 33. 3-point goals-Eastern Washington 7-14 (Williams 3-4, Hansen 2-4, Fitzgerald 1-1, Jones 1-3, Olson 0-2), Montana State 3-12 (Brown 2-6, Conway 1-1, Lazosky 0-1, Riggs 0-1, Nicholson 0-2). Rebounds-Eastern Washington 27 (Hunter 6), Montana State 32 (Rich 15). Assists-Eastern Washington 17 (Williams, Hansen 5), Montana State 13 (Riggs 6). Total fouls-Eastern Washington 23, Montana State 17. A-3,422.