Eagles lose, need help to get to play again

BOZEMAN, Mont. – Now, the Eagles must cheer for the Montana Grizzlies.

The Eastern Washington University men’s basketball team didn’t do itself any favors by losing 85-61 to Montana State Saturday at Worthington Arena.

But Northern Arizona didn’t help itself either, meaning the Eagles are still in contention to clinch an eighth consecutive berth in the Big Sky Conference tournament.

All Eagles eyes will be focused Monday on Montana’s road game at Northern Arizona, which lost at home to Sacramento State 87-86 to remain a half-game behind EWU for the sixth and final berth in the tournament. If Montana wins, the Eagles will get a chance to defend their tourney title. If the Lumberjacks win, Eastern’s season will come to a close with a 5-9 conference record and 8-19 mark overall.

Although an NAU victory would leave it and Eastern tied at 5-9 in the conference, the tiebreaker goes NAU’s way. Essentially, the tiebreaker would come down to EWU getting swept by Montana, including a 55-53 loss in Missoula on Thursday and a 10-point home loss in January. The Lumberjacks will have managed a split versus the Grizzlies.

Regardless of Monday’s outcome, the Eagles ended the regular season on a disappointing note. Senior Marc Axton scored 27 points and set school records for career 3-pointers and games played, but the effort was what had first-year head coach Mike Burns concerned most.

“That can’t happen – there was a lot at stake tonight,” he said. “We had a lot at stake at Montana, too, but we put out great effort in that game. The effort wasn’t quite the same tonight.”

MSU outscored Eastern 46-29 in the second half as the Bobcats made 61 percent of their shots after halftime. The Eagles allowed MSU to finish with 55 percent shooting in the game.

Axton made six 3-pointers in the game, giving him 183 in his career to surpass the school record of 179 held by Shannon Taylor (1998-99).

Axton also tied Alvin Snow’s school record of 118 career games played, and has 1,307 career points to move into seventh place in school history.

Montana St. 85, E. Washington 61

Eastern Washington (8-19, 5-9)–Smith 2-9 0-0 4, Axton 9-15 3-4 27, Nelson 3-8 4-6 10, Scheffler 0-3 0-0 0, Pariseau 0-3 2-2 2, Henkel 0-3 0-2 0, Bekkering 3-6 2-2 9, McCulloch 1-1 0-1 2, Wortham 0-1 0-0 0, Loe 3-7 0-0 6, Butorac 0-0 0-0 0, Nicholas 0-0 1-2 1, Beitinger 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 21-59 12-19 61.

Montana State (14-13, 9-5)–Dissly 5-7 0-0 13, Moss 4-7 2-3 10, Beye 4-8 0-1 8, Miller 8-13 3-3 24, Jefferson 4-6 13-13 22, Durham 1-5 0-1 3, Woodall 2-3 0-0 5, Holmes 0-0 0-0 0, Durr 0-1 0-0 0, Pratt 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 28-51 18-21 85.

Halftime–Montana State 39, Eastern Washington 32. 3-point goals–Eastern Washington 7-26 (Axton 6-10, Bekkering 1-3, Wortham 0-1, Henkel 0-2, Loe 0-2, Pariseau 0-2, Scheffler 0-2, Smith 0-4), Montana State 11-23 (Miller 5-9, Dissly 3-5, Jefferson 1-1, Woodall 1-2, Durham 1-5, Durr 0-1). Fouled out–None. Rebounds–Eastern Washington 29 (Nelson 6), Montana State 39 (Dissly 8). Assists–Eastern Washington 12 (Pariseau 4), Montana State 15 (Moss 4). Total fouls–Eastern Washington 18, Montana State 21. A–4,427.