EWU wins a game Mr. Naismith could appreciate

The Big Sky Conference men’s basketball game at Reese Court Saturday night might have ended in record time except for one thing – it took too long to get the ball out of the peach basket after each bucket.

At least there were only 51 makes and 91 misses.

In a game that set offensive basketball back to the 19th century, Eastern Washington won its second straight with a 44-41 win over Sacramento State.

“It was definitely ugly, a low-scoring game that was all about defense,” Eagles sophomore Paul Butorac said. “It was a rough game but we came out with a win. That’s all that mattered. No style points in this game.”

Eastern (5-10, 2-0 league) might have won going away but only hit 11 of 26 free throws, including 3 of 10 in the final 5 minutes, and missed a number of close-range shots in shooting 31 percent for the game. The Eagles were also 1 of 16 from 3-point range, had 17 turnovers and leading score Marc Axton had just six points, a third of his average.

“When you get in a scrappy game those are what make it a scrappy game, missed free throws, missed layups, a lot of easy looks,” EWU coach Mike Burns said. “Some of it was us missing the shots, some of it is just the fact that they fly at the ball. They play very hard and contest everything that you put up there.”

But in crunch times, the Eagles came through, forcing a miss by Jason Harris that was rebounded by Henry Bekkering, who made a free throw to make it 42-38 with 13 seconds left. Then after Alex Bausley made a 3-pointer with 3 seconds remaining, the Eagles got the ball in to Axton, who hit Butorac for a slam at the buzzer.

“We have kids of great character,” Burns said. “They won’t quit, they’ll keep competing (but) the only thing uglier than this game was the home head coach. It was about toughness down the stretch and our guys hung in there.”

As mightily as the Eagles struggled it was harder for the Hornets (3-11, 0-2). They shot 27 percent, gave up an amazing 24 offensive rebounds in getting out-rebounded 50-33 and generally couldn’t capitalize offensively on what their defense created.

Other than Harris, who was 7 of 14 and scored 24 points, Sac’s remaining players were 7 of 37 for 17 points.

“He’s a tough guard, very athletic,” Butorac said. “We must have had five guys on him, but we stopped him when it counted.”

The game was played at a frantic pass from the opening tipoff, mostly because of the in-your-face defense by both teams, but very little was accomplished.

The Hornets took a 21-18 halftime lead with the Eagles going scoreless for the final 3:41 and most of the statistics were as ugly as the score.

Sac shot 30 percent from the field and it didn’t seem possible the Hornets could shoot worse. But they did, going scoreless for more than 4 minutes as the Eagles opened a 24-21 lead.

Eastern took a 30-25 lead at the 12:34 with six quick points, a Butorac drive, an Eric Henkel basket off a Butorac assist and a Henkel follow shot. But in a stretch of holding Sac State scoreless for more than 5 minutes, the Eagles got seven points.

A 3-pointer by Danny Pariseau – the only one for Eastern in 16 attempts – helped up the lead to 8 with just under 8 minutes left, but the free throw woes were going to make it impossible to pull away. Even Axton, a 76 percent shooter, missed a pair and Pariseau, a 79 percent shooter who had an outstanding second half, missed one of two after the Hornets inched within two, 40-38, just under the 2-minute mark.

“That was a gut-check win,” Burns said. “(Sacramento State) played very hard. I thought they took it at us in the first half. I thought our kids responded the first 4 minutes of the second half very well. It was not astatically pleasing that’s for sure.”

Pariseau had four steals, including a pair in the closing moments that allowed the Eagles to survive their woeful free-throw shooting.

Butorac led the Eagles with 10 points.

EWU 44, Sacramento St. 41

Sacramento State (3-11, 0-2)–J.Harris 7-14 8-12 24, Bausley 1-8 1-2 4, Perry 1-3 0-0 2, E.Harris 0-8 0-0 0, Pugh 3-9 0-0 6, Adams 0-0 0-0 0, Gilzene 0-1 0-0 0, Freeman 0-1 0-0 0, Roberts 1-6 1-2 3, Beekman 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 14-51 10-16 41.

Eastern Washington (5-10, 2-0)–Bekkering 2-7 4-8 8, Axton 2-8 2-4 6, Beitinger 1-6 1-3 3, Smith 1-2 0-0 2, Pariseau 3-9 1-3 8, Scheffler 0-2 0-0 0, Henkel 2-2 0-0 4, Nelson 1-5 1-2 3, Loe 0-2 0-0 0, Butorac 4-8 2-6 10. Totals 16-51 11-26 44.

Halftime–Sacramento State 21, Eastern Washington 18. 3-point goals–Sacramento State 3-17 (J.Harris 2-3, Bausley 1-6, Freeman 0-1, Roberts 0-1, Perry 0-2, E.Harris 0-2, Pugh 0-2), Eastern Washington 1-16 (Pariseau 1-4, Smith 0-1, Loe 0-1, Scheffler 0-2, Bekkering 0-3, Axton 0-5). Fouled out–Beekman. Rebounds–Sacramento State 33 (J.Harris, Bausley 6), Eastern Washington 50 (Bekkering 10). Assists–Sacramento State 2 (E.Harris, Freeman 1), Eastern Washington 6 (Axton 3). Total fouls–Sacramento State 24, Eastern Washington 19. A–1,920.