Broncos pull away from EWU

BOISE – Jason Ellis scored 14 of his game-high 19 points in the second half, and Jermaine Blackburn added 17 points Wednesday to lead Boise State to a 78-67 non-conference men’s basketball win over Eastern Washington.

Coby Karl added 15 points and Eric Lane had 10 points as the Broncos (5-3) sent EWU (2-6) to its fourth straight loss. Ellis also had 10 rebounds.

Boise State withstood a 13-1 run by the Eagles in the first half to lead 33-29 at the break. The Broncos used runs of 9-0 and 13-4 to start the second half to widen their advantage to 46-33.

Ellis and Blackburn scored six points apiece in the first 5 minutes, 30 seconds of the second half as the Broncos gained control of the game and were never seriously threatened.

“I was pleased with the first half,” said Eagles head coach Mike Burns. “I was absolutely sickened by about a four-minute stretch in the second half. There is a certain level of toughness and intensity that Eastern basketball is supposed to be about. We are going to get there one way or another, but we need to start right now.”

Jake Beitinger led EWU with 18 points – his fourth straight double-figure effort – and Marc Axton added 16 points and seven assists.

Axton became the 14th Eagles player to surpass the 1,000-point mark when he hit a basket with 9:37 remaining in the first half.

“We came out in an almost lethargic sort of way,” Burns said. “I don’t know what triggered that. That 9-0 run was the difference in the ballgame, because it was a pretty competitive game to that point. I thought we had a great chance to win this one tonight, but we let them get away.”