Eagles put up a fight, but fall by 1
PORTLAND – Eastern Washington rallied from a 10-point second half deficit, but couldn’t hold a six-point lead and lost to league-leading Portland State 71-70 in a Big Sky Conference men’s basketball game Saturday at the Stott Center.
The Vikings (17-6, 9-2) won their 11th consecutive home game. Eastern slipped into sixth place at 4-6 (7-16 overall) with four regular-season games remaining.
Eastern plays its final two home games this week against Weber State and Idaho State looking to secure one of six postseason tournament berths.
“Our ability to be in a game we really should have won against the first-place team in the league gives us confidence,” said Eagles head coach Mike Burns.
“There are a couple of different ways to look at it, but our players definitely felt like we should have won. They played hard enough to do that and I’m proud of them.”
The Eagles used a 13-0 run in a three-minute span in the second half to help turn a 10-point deficit into a six-point advantage with six minutes to play. The Eagles led by three with 3:40 left to play, but managed just three points after that as they were guilty of three turnovers and two missed field-goal attempts down the stretch.
Eastern had two of the turnovers in the final 30.6 seconds, including one in the last four seconds when the Eagles couldn’t get off a potential game-winning shot.
Marc Axton paced the Eagles with 16 points and Tim Scheffler came off the bench to finish with a season-high 11. Both players made a trio of 3-pointers as Scheffler bettered his previous season-high of nine points against Cascade on Dec. 1. Matt Nelson was Eastern’s top inside player with 10 points before fouling out.
“It was nice to see Timmy step up,” said Burns of the transfer from Northwest Junior College in Wyoming. “His shooting from the 3-point line was huge,”
Portland State’s Seamus Boxley, a 6-foot-7 forward who is the favorite to win Big Sky Player of the Year honors, led the Vikings with 25 points on 10-of-16 shooting from the field. He made a pair of baskets in the final minute and scored his team’s final five points of the game. He helped Portland State finish with 46 points in the paint. The previous high against the Eagles this season was 38 against Gonzaga.
“We struggled against Boxley,” said Burns. “He’s a great player and you have to give him credit – he made plays. We ran two people at him on a couple of occasions, and then they brought in some shooters and we couldn’t do that anymore.”
Portland St. 71, E. Washington 70
Eastern Washington (7-16, 4-6)–Bekkering 0-2 0-0 0, Nelson 3-10 4-5 10, Axton 6-11 1-3 16, Smith 3-5 0-0 6, Pariseau 1-3 4-4 6, Scheffler 4-5 0-0 11, Henkel 0-0 2-2 2, McCulloch 0-0 0-0 0, Loe 2-6 2-3 7, Beitinger 4-9 0-0 8, Butorac 2-3 0-0 4. Totals 25-54 13-17 70.
Portland State (17-6, 9-2)–Jarrell 4-7 1-2 9, Baxley 10-16 4-8 25, Morrison 2-3 0-0 4, Walker 0-4 0-2 0, Funn 6-10 3-4 15, Neeley 2-5 0-0 6, Stock 0-0 0-0 0, Hollist 1-1 0-0 2, Schroeder 1-1 0-0 3, Angui 3-3 1-2 7, Kaladokubo 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-50 9-18 71.
Halftime–Eastern Washington 37, Portland State 37. 3-point goals–Eastern Washington 7-12 (Scheffler 3-4, Axton 3-5, Loe 1-1, Pariseau 0-1, Beitinger 0-1), Portland State 4-9 (Neeley 2-3, Schroeder 1-1, Boxley 1-2, Walker 0-1, Jarrell 0-2). Fouled out–Nelson, Jarrell. Rebounds–Eastern Washington 29 (Nelson, Beitinger 5), Portland State 28 (Walker 8). Assists–Eastern Washington 15 (Loe 5), Portland State 16 (Funn 7). Total fouls–Eastern Washington 20, Portland State 21. A–1,500.