Short-handed Eagles no match for BYU

PROVO, Utah – Playing nationally ranked Gonzaga close last week gave Eastern Washington a measure of national attention, but it had a negative effect Tuesday, when the Eagles took the court against Brigham Young.

Thanks to that performance, where the Eagles led the Bulldogs with 10 minutes remaining, there was no chance the Cougars would look past EWU in the Marriott Center.

Executing as crisply as it has all season, BYU blasted Eastern 97-66 in front of 9,780 fans for its largest margin of victory this season. Eastern, which played without leading rebounder Paul Butorac while he was battling the flu, fell to 5-6 heading into Thursday night’s game at Boise State.

“They came out with a great deal of energy,” said EWU coach Mike Burns. “They were ready for us. You could see it in their eyes, and witness it by the effort they put forth.”

BYU (7-3) made nine of its first 10 shots to take an early 21-5 lead and used its superior size advantage to force the Eagles into several poor shots.

Freshman Rodney Stuckey led the Eagles with 19 points, but needed 21 shots to get there. Kellen Williams added 15, but the Eagles shot just 37.1 percent from the floor and made only three of 17 three-point attempts.

“Our poor shooting had more to do with BYU’s defensive effort tonight than anything else,” Burns said. “They just flat-out defended us.

“They came out and played extremely hard and took it to us. That got us behind the eight-ball early in the game.”

After the shaky start, Eastern had seemingly recovered with an 8-1 run that trimmed the BYU lead to 38-30 with 4:05 remaining in the first half. But the Eagles scored just four points the rest of the half, and BYU cruised into halftime with a 53-34 lead.

“We knew those guys could play,” said BYU point guard Rashaun Broadus, who had nine of BYU’s season-high 29 assists. “They’ve played tough against some good teams, and we wanted to show that last week’s [91-80] loss to Utah State was not going keep us down.”

Junior Keena Young led BYU off the bench with 15 points as six Cougars reached double figures. Young was also the leading rebounder on the floor with eight, part of BYU’s 38-29 rebounding advantage.

The Cougars outscored the Eagles 53-20 in the paint.

Burns said the Eagles sorely missed Butorac, a 6-foot-10 junior from Medical Lake who is averaging 7.5 points per game. But, most importantly, he ranks third in the Big Sky Conference in rebounding (7.3 per game) and leads the league in blocked shots (2.2)

“Not having Paul really hurt us, especially defensively and rebounding,” Burns said. “It’s tough coming into a place like this when you’re not on your ‘A’ game defensively. His absence definitely hurt in that regard.”

BYU coach Dave Rose credited BYU’s 6-foot-5 guard Brock Reichner, his son-in-law, for holding Stuckey in check. Burns agreed with that assessment, saying Reichner’s size kept Stuckey from making some shots he normally sinks.

Still, Burns wasn’t about to put BYU in the class of Gonzaga and Washington, ranked teams the Eagles lost to by a combined 27 points.

“[Superior] experience is the biggest thing those teams have,” he said. “But BYU could be pretty darn good down the road.”

If there was a bright spot for the Eagles, it was how their pressure defense caused turnovers. BYU turned it over 18 times, a season high.

“We played well at times, but a lot of times we left them open,” Burns said. “That was a lack of focus, mostly.”

Eastern began a stretch of three games in six days. The Eagles play at Boise State on Thursdsay before hosting San Diego in a New Year’s Day game at 2:05 p.m. at Reese Court.

“With a young team, every game is a new challenge,” Burns said. “With your last game going into the break (Friday against Cal Poly) and your first game after the break, you wonder how your team is going to respond. Tonight, we didn’t respond very well.”

Burns expects a better effort Thursday in Boise.

“This is what we do – we play college basketball and we have to be ready to play the night they are scheduled. With a youg team, every night is a new challenge and Thursday will be a new challenge for us.”

Stuckey honored

EWU freshman Rodney Stuckey has been selected as this week’s Big Sky Conference co-Player of the Week after averaging 22 points in a pair of games last week. Stuckey, who won the award for the second time this season, shared the honors this time around with Montana sophomore Andrew Strait.

Stuckey – a 6-foot-4 guard out of Kent, Wash. – averaged 22 points, five rebounds, 4.5 assists and 3.5 steals in games against Gonzaga and Cal Poly. Stuckey scored 20 and snagged 10 rebounds in a loss to Gonzaga. He followed that up with 24 points, seven assists and seven steals in a victory over Cal Poly. He shot 53.3 percent from the floor in the two games and made 5 of 6 free throws.

Stuckey leads the Big Sky in scoring at 20.3 points per game. He also ranks third in assists (4.1) and steals (2.3).

BYU 97, Eastern Washington 66

Eastern Washington (5-6)—Beitinger 3-4 1-2 7, Williams 6-11 2-2 15, Stuckey 6-21 6-10 19, Penoncello 0-4 0-0 0, Smith II 4-11 4-4 12, Bekkering 0-1 1-2 1, Humphrey 1-3 0-0 2, Zumwalt 2-5 2-2 7, Risper 1-2 1-2 3. Totals 23-62 17-24 66.

Brigham Young (7-3)—Malaman 6-8 1-1 14, Cummard 4-7 0-0 8, Plaisted 5-5 1-2 11, Broadus 3-7 1-1 7, Reichner 5-9 2-2 12, Rose 4-5 0-0 12, Young 6-9 3-4 15, Emery 1-1 0-0 2, Ainge 0-2 1-2 1, Balderson 4-6 0-0 11, Odjegba 0-0 0-0 0, Dawes 2-3 0-1 4. Totals 40-62 9-13 97.

Halftime—Brigham Young 53, Eastern Washington 34. 3-point goals—Eastern Washington 3-17 (Williams 1-1, Zumwalt 1-3, Stuckey 1-5, Beitinger 0-1, Humphrey 0-2, Smith II 0-2, Penoncello 0-3), Brigham Young 8-16 (Rose 4-4, Balderson 3-4, Malaman 1-2, Ainge 0-1, Cummard 0-1, Reichner 0-2, Broadus 0-2). Fouled out—None. Rebounds—Eastern Washington 29 (Beitinger, Smith II 5), Brigham Young 38 (Young 8). Assists—Eastern Washington 15 (Stuckey 4), Brigham Young 29 (Broadus 9). Total fouls—Eastern Washington 14, Brigham Young 20. A—9,870.