Eagles Will Play For Big Sky Title Eastern Comes Back To Beat Bobcats, Earns At Least A Share Of Championship

For the better part of 20 minutes Thursday night, Eastern Washington played like a basketball team that has never been here before - which it hasn’t.

Then, in the second half, the Eagles showed a Reese Court crowd of 3,353 exactly why they’re in the unprecedented position of playing for the outright Big Sky Conference men’s championship.

Fueled by a resurgent defense and the deadly outside shooting of Ryan Hansen, league-leading Eastern overcame a five-point halftime deficit to run down Montana State 84-69 and secure at least a share of its first Big Sky title.

“We’re co-champions of the Big Sky Conference right now with that win,” coach Steve Aggers said through a broad smile following the victory. “And now our guys want to erase the word `co’ off there.”

The Eagles (15-10 overall, 12-3 Big Sky) will get a chance to do that Saturday night when Montana (16-10, 11-4), which remained in a second-place tie with Northern Arizona (17-9, 11-4) following Thursday’s 88-79 overtime win over Portland State, invades Reese court for a 7:05 showdown.

A win would give Eastern the outright title and the right to host the Big Sky tournament, which starts next weekend. A loss could create a three-way tie for the regular-season championship and drop the Eagles to the No. 3 seed for the tournament.

Montana can finish No. 1, but the Grizzlies would need Weber State to upset NAU tonight in Flagstaff, Ariz., and then beat Eastern on Saturday.

In case of either a two- or three-way tie for first, NAU would earn the top tournament seed by virtue of a 1-1 regular-season record against EWU and 2-0 mark against Montana.

“It’s one of the most important games in a long, long time here, it really is,” Aggers said of the Montana matchup. “We know what’s at stake, Montana knows what’s at stake and we should have a nice crowd, I would think.

“What an exciting game. This is what we all play for.”

And the Eagles, no matter how out of place they might feel at times, deserve to be here, thanks to the kind of poise they displayed against the outmanned, but big-hearted Bobcats (12-16, 4-11).

“I thought we played very well to begin with,” MSU coach Mick Durham said. “We put a scare into them, but they stepped it up in the second half.

“The way Eastern Washington responded in the second half, that’s what championship teams are supposed to do.”

Hansen provided the offensive firepower for Eastern’s second-half surge by throwing in 17 of his game-high 22 points after intermission. The 6-foot-2 senior guard finished 7 of 12 from the field and made 5 of 8 3-pointers. Aggers also liked the way his Eagles turned up the defensive heat, established a stronger inside presence and went hard to the boards following intermission.

Junior center Chris White finished with 19 points and 12 rebounds for the Eagles, who outrebounded the Bobcats 42-29.

Deon Williams added 12 points and Kareem Hunter chipped in 11 points and nine rebounds.

“But Ryno’s shots were huge,” Aggers said.

Durham went even further, claiming Hansen is the key to Eastern’s unexpected success. “He’s the one, really, who has stepped up his game and taken Eastern Washington to another level that we haven’t seen before,” Durham said.

Hansen insisted it was the Eagles’ increased defensive intensity, rather than his shooting, that turned things Eastern’s way.

“They scored 41 (first-half) points in our house,” he said of the Bobcats, “and we take that personally. So we came out and re-established our defense, and that’s what really helped us get the lead back and set the tone for the second half.”

The Eagles appeared tight at the start. They turned over the ball on three of their first five possessions and missed three of their first four shots.

That was enough to give MSU some early hope - along with a 6-2 lead - and the Bobcats built on that early success throughout most of the opening period, using a 10-point run just before intermission to take a 41-36 halftime lead.

Their lead evaporated less than 2 minutes into the second half, however, as the Eagles used three free throws by Hansen to ignite an 8-2 run that produced a 44-43 lead.

The game turned moments later when Hansen knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers and then drew an offensive foul on Justin Brown, who led MSU’s scoring with 18 points. Hunter converted on a putback on Eastern’s ensuing possession and Williams capped a 10-4 Eagles run with a baseline layin off a nice pass from Hansen.

That made it 56-50, EWU, and when White shook loose for a slam dunk coming out of a media timeout with 11:40 left in the game, the Bobcats were finished.

EWU 84, Montana St. 69

Montana St. (12-16)-Brown 6-11 4-4 18, Rich 1-4 1-2 3, Lazosky 5-16 0-0 10, Riggs 4-7 1-1 9, Conway 4-8 3-3 13, Walton 4-8 2-2 10, Persinger 1-4 0-0 2, Nicholson 1-2 1-2 3. Totals 26-60 12-14 69.

E. Washington (15-10)-Olson 2-6 2-2 8, Hunter 5-6 1-2 11, White 7-12 5-5 19, Williams 5-10 0-0 12, Hansen 7-12 3-3 22, Levy 0-3 3-4 3, Jones 2-5 0-0 4, Fitzgerald 2-8 0-1 5, McKie 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 30-63 14-17 84.

Halftime-Montana St. 41, E. Washington 36. 3-Point goals-Montana St. 5-18 (Brown 2-5, Conway 2-4, Nicholson 1-1, Lazosky 0-3, Rich 0-2, Persinger 0-2, Riggs 0-1), E. Washington 10-27 (Hansen 5-8, Olson 2-5, Williams 2-7, Fitzgerald 1-5, Jones 0-1, McKie 0-1). Fouled out-Rich. Rebounds-Montana St. 29 (Riggs 7), E. Washington 42 (White 12). Assists-Montana St. 9 (Riggs 5), E. Washington 16 (Hansen 5). Total fouls-Montana St. 16, E. Washington 18. A-3,353.