EWU roughed up

SEATTLE – Eastern Washington coach Mike Burns was not particularly pleased with the timing of Sunday’s non-conference men’s basketball matchup against Washington.

Or the circumstances leading up to it, for that matter.

He feared the Huskies, who started last week unbeaten and ranked No. 14 in the nation, might still be a bit out of sorts following Wednesday night’s upset loss at Gonzaga. And he knew there was a good chance they might take out their frustrations on his young, outmanned Eagles.

Which is exactly what they did, suffocating Eastern with a defensive intensity that was noticeably absent against GU and stampeding to an easy 89-56 victory in front of a crowd of 9,418 at Bank of America Arena.

UW (5-1) harassed the Eagles (2-3) unmercifully from the opening tip, prevented them from getting into any semblance of an offensive rhythm and forced a near-record 30 turnovers in doing what they could to ease the sting of their 99-87 loss to the Zags.

Veteran guards Nate Robinson and Tre Simmons each scored 20 points, with the 5-foot-9 Robinson adding a team-high seven rebounds and seven assists. Simmons also finished with four of UW’s 14 steals – most of which led to easy baskets.

“What they went through last Wednesday in Spokane very much whet their appetite for today’s game,” Burns said. “We were aware that was going to be the case, and we tried to prepare for that. Obviously, we didn’t do a very good job.”

Eastern, playing again without shooting guard Henry Bekkering, who suffered a shoulder strain during the first half of the Eagles’ 76-61 road win over Cal Poly back on Nov. 22, flinched dramatically in the face of UW’s full-court defensive pressure. They turned the ball over 10 times in the first 10 minutes of the game and fell behind 39-12.

“It was just tough for our guys to get a catch anywhere on the floor,” Burns added. “You can get the chess board out and line the pawns any way you want, but if you can’t catch, it’s hard to run offense.”

Huskies coach Lorenzo Romar liked the way his team reacted to its seventh consecutive loss to Gonzaga just four nights earlier – especially with starting guard Brandon Roy missing his third consecutive game with a torn lateral meniscus in his right knee, and backup center Hakeem Rollins also unavailable because of minor soreness in his knee.

“Anything less than that would have been a letdown for us,” he said.

On this day, the Huskies were sensational on the defensive end.

“They did a great job of getting out and making it extremely difficult to get into any offense, and you have to give them credit for that,” said Burns, whose team’s 30 turnovers were just one short of the school-record.

In an effort to neutralize UW’s decided edge in backcourt quickness and experience, Burns opted to have 6-7 senior forward Marc Axton bring the ball up court against the UW press.

The experiment met with mixed results.

Axton, who came in averaging a team-high 23 points a game, did a decent job of protecting the basketball in the backcourt, but was never able to establish himself on the offensive end, where he shot just 2 of 11 from the floor, 2 of 7 from the free-throw line and finished with only seven points.

“I think it fatigued him,” Burns said of his decision to put the ball in Axton’s hands so often. “That was a gamble we chose to take. In retrospect, maybe it wasn’t the right one, but it was something we had to do to ensure we got the ball up the floor.”

Axton, a point guard in high school, downplayed the effect the press-breaking responsibilities might have had on his paltry numbers, but his teammates thought otherwise.

“It’s a role Marc’s not really used to, and I feel bad for him,” said freshman forward Jacob Beitinger, who led Eastern with 14 points and eight rebounds. “Having to bring up the ball like that against their kind of pressure is really tough. I think it really affected his getting involved in the offense. It’s nicer when we can just set screens for him and get him open looks that way.”

“That limits his shooting ability, too,” added freshman James Loe, a backup point guard who finished with four points and five assists and looked as comfortable against UW’s defensive pressure as anyone in an Eagles uniform. “It’s better when he’s coming off screens and stuff. If we have a guard bringing it up, it’s much easier for Ax to get shots.”

And with Axton struggling, only Beitinger and Matt Nelson, who finished with 10 points and eight boards, were able to make any meaningful contributions on offense.

Washington 89, EWU 56

Eastern Washington (2-3) – Nelson 4-8 2-2 10, Axton 2-11 2-7 7, Beitinger 6-8 1-3 14, K.Smith 2-6 0-0 5, Pariseau 1-2 0-0 2, Scheffler 1-4 0-0 3, Henkel 0-1 0-0 0, McCulloch 0-0 0-0 0, Wortham 0-0 0-0 0, Loe 2-4 0-2 4, Burorac 1-2 5-6 7, Nicholas 2-5 0-0 4. Totals 21-51 10-20 56.

Washington (5-1) – Jones 3-7 0-2 7, Jensen 0-5 3-6 3, Simmons 8-13 3-3 20, Robinson 6-12 6-9 20, Conroy 4-7 2-2 11, J.Smith 1-2 2-2 5, Burmeister 3-3 0-1 8, Fletcher 0-1 0-0 0, Gasser 2-4 0-0 4, Williams 4-6 1-2 9, Potter 0-2 2-2 2, Johnson 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 31-63 19-29 89.

Halftime—Washington 54-29. 3-Point goals—Eastern Washington 4-14 (K.Smith 1-2, Beitinger 1-2, Scheffler 1-3, Axton 1-6, Henkel 0-1), Washington 8-17 (Burmeister 2-2, Robinson 2-4, J.Smith 1-1, Jones 1-2, Simmons 1-3, Conroy 1-3, Potter 0-1, Johnson 0-1). Fouled out—K.Smith. Rebounds—Eastern Washington 34 (Beitinger 8), Washington 38 (Robinson 7). Assists—Eastern Washington 13 (Loe 5), Washington 19 (Robinson 7). Total fouls—Eastern Washington 25, Washington 22. Technical—Jones. A—9,418.