Eastern’S High-Flying Act Crashes Hard With Big Sky Top Seed In Sight, Eagles Let Grizzlies Pull Out A Narrow Decision

Never in its 13 years in the Big Sky Conference had an Eastern Washington University basketball team come this far and felt this bad. The Eagles will play in the conference Tournament Friday night as the No. 2 seed, a stunning achievement for a team that opened the season losing 7 of its first 9.

Yet after Saturday night’s 77-75 loss to Montana, the Eagles have less than a week to get over a severe collapse and a case of the what-ifs?

Up by 12 points with 8 minutes left, the Eagles simply froze, missing 10 consecutive shots, barely drawing iron on their free throws, going without a point for 6:21 and finally blowing an essential assignment in the final 8 seconds that cost them a chance at a 3-point shot and a possible tie.

After a 17-0 rally, Montana led 71-66 with 3:01 to go.

Even at that, the Eagles had a chance to pull it out when Dennis Fitzgerald, playing his last game on senior night in front of his parents, hit a 3-point shot from the corner to pull Eastern within 2 with 1:45 left.

But Montana’s super-quick Shane Christie beat Jamal Jones in backcourt and split the Eagles’ defense in a coast-to-coast drive and layup with 1:34 left.

Jones atoned with a long 3 and the Eagles were back within a point. Christie answered with a pair of free throws for Montana at :23 and Eastern came back looking for a 3 following a timeout.

That’s when the Eagles blew the play they had drawn up, a breakdown that forced Jones with 8 seconds left to drive for a baseline prayer. Fitzgerald fouled Greenwalt in the scramble for the rebound and the star from Spangle hit 1 of 2 shots.

Eastern’s Jones drilled his second desperate 3 with 4 seconds left. Forced to foul, Eastern whacked freshman Sam Riddle with two ticks showing.

The Montana freshman hit 1 of 2 and that was enough.

Eastern’s desperation three-quarters-court in-bounds pass was off the mark and intercepted by the Grizzlies.

What if EWU hadn’t gone scoreless from the 8:06 mark of the second half to 1:45 - a 6:21 dry spell - when its lead melted to nothing?

What if Ryan Hansen and Chris White hadn’t come up empty in the biggest game of the season?

What if the Eagles hadn’t blown 8 of 15 free throws? What if Montana’s Matt Williams hadn’t gone off for nine points down the stretch, when the Griz turned a 66-54 Eastern lead into a 71-65 advantage with 3:01 to go?

What if Travis Greenwalt had gone to Eastern?

The 6-foot-8 Greenwalt grew up 18 miles south of the EWU campus in Spangle. In front of a block of family and friends, the Liberty High School grad came off the bench to knock down 4 of 6 shots and 7 of 10 free throws in a career night that included 16 points and eight rebounds.

“I had a lot of friends and family tonight - everybody,” Greenwalt said. “My parents bought 26 tickets. I got four (comps). So we had 30 people get tickets.”

They watched the local boy make good, and help the Griz snatch the conference tournament for their own. If the Eagles had won, they would have been sole champions and the tournament host.

Eastern will play in the Big Sky semifinals at 6:05 p.m. Friday night against the highest-remaining seed left after Thursday’

Asked how much it hurt, Eastern coach Steve Aggers said, “It kills you. Tears you apart. You put so much of your heart into this. Blood, sweat and tears. This program has been so down so long and to have a chance like this …

“So I guess,” he said, “we have to find positives in everything.”

It wasn’t hard for Aggers to run them by.

“We’ve got great kids who are going to bounce back,” he said. “We’re going into the league tournament to win this thing in Missoula.”

Senior center Hasan Artharee scored 19 points, 11 in the first half, and five other Portland State players were in double figures as the Vikings defeated Montana State 84-67 in Portland. Portland State is the last of the six seeds to the conference tournament… . Jeff Parris scored 23 points and Andre Larry added 16 as Cal State Northridge routed visiting Sacramento State 81-57. The Matadors are the No. 5 seed in Missoula.

Montana 77, EWU 75

Montana (17-10)-Buckmaster 2-6 0-0 6, Williams 8-15 6-9 22, Davis 0-1 0-0 0, Christensen 4-10 2-3 12, Warhank 6-10 3-3 18, Riddle 0-0 1-2 1, Cummings 0-0 0-0 0, Slider 1-2 0-0 2, Greenwalt 4-6 7-10 16, Carter 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 25-51 19-27 77.

Eastern Washington (15-11)-Olson 3-8 1-2 10, Fitzgerald 5-9 0-2 12, Levy 3-7 2-2 8, Williams 7-17 1-1 18, Hansen 2-11 2-4 7, Quinto 0-0 0-0 0, Jones 5-10 0-0 15, Hunter 0-2 0-0 0, McKie 0-0 0-0 0, White 2-4 1-4 5. Totals 27-68 7-15 75.

Halftime-Montana 42, Eastern Washington 36. 3-Point goals-Montana 8-16 (Warhank 3-6, Christensen 2-5, Buckmaster 2-4, Greenwalt 1-1), Eastern Washington 14-34 (Jones 5-8, Olson 3-7, Williams 3-7, Fitzgerald 2-5, Hansen 1-7). Fouled out-Olson, Fitzgerald. Rebounds-Montana 45 (Williams 12), Eastern Washington 33 (Fitzgerald, Levy 6). Assists-Montana 15 (Christensen 6), Eastern Washington 20 (Williams, Hansen 6). Total fouls-Montana 15, Eastern Washington 23. A-5,426.