Kids lead Eastern past ISU

POCATELLO, Idaho – Eastern Washington University rallied from a seven-point deficit with 8 minutes to play Thursday night to score a 60-56 Big Sky Conference men’s basketball victory over Idaho State at Reed Gym.

True freshmen Jake Beitinger and James Loe came off the bench to combine for 22 points, including seven of Eastern’s last 10 points as the Eagles remained in third place in the conference standings.

Eastern is 3-1 in the Big Sky (6-11 overall), just behind 4-1 Portland State. PSU lost at Weber State 70-66, while conference leader Montana State beat Sacramento State 73-70 to improve to 4-0.

Idaho State is 0-5 in the conference and 6-11 overall.

Eastern survived a 7-minute scoring drought to start the second half.

“I’ve been around Eastern basketball for five years, and we’ve had some gutty performances on the road,” said Eagles head coach Mike Burns. “But I don’t think we’ve had any guttier than this in terms of being down and struggling. When you struggle against a zone defense like that, mentally it begins to wear on you. Our players refused to yield down the stretch, and that’s why we got the victory.”

The game was tied at 50 when Loe made a three-point play to put the Eagles up with 21/2 minutes to play. Idaho State regained a 54-53 advantage, but Beitinger hit a basket with 53 seconds left that gave EWU the lead for good.

Deuce Smith made 3 of 4 free throws in the final 28.8 seconds for the Eagles, and Loe made a pair with 11 seconds left after a steal that clinched it.

Beitinger finished with team highs of 12 points and eight rebounds, and Loe had 11 points and seven assists. Beitinger made 4 of 5 free throws and 4 of 8 field-goal attempts, and scored nine of his points in the first half. Loe made all four of his free throws and 3 of 5 shots from the field.

“I was very proud of those two for how they stepped up,” said Burns. “It was big to see true freshmen making those plays down the stretch.”

Eagles senior Marc Axton added 10 points and five rebounds.