USC out of Eagles’ league
ANCHORAGE, Alaska – There are no teams like Southern California in the Big Sky Conference and for that, Eastern Washington men’s basketball coach Mike Burns is grateful.
The Trojans dismantled the Eagles 69-51 Friday at the Carrs Great Alaska Shootout, sending Eastern Washington to the 11 a.m. PST game today against Southern Illinois. The Salukis lost to Alaska Anchorage 72-64 Friday.
“We knew that this game would be a little bit of a test of wills, and hats off to USC because they did that,” Burns said. “We had stretches in the first half and the second half where we matched that energy, but we told our team, you’ve got to do it for 40 minutes.”
Energy the Trojans (1-2) had in abundance, along with speed and leaping ability. USC’s sheer physical skills had Eastern Washington flatfooted from the first buzzer. No Trojan was a better example of their uptempo play than Nick Young, who led all scorers with 25 points.
He slashed through the lane and from the baseline, displaying an array of shots (layups and jumpers from 3 to 8 feet) that many times went uncontested. Besides shooting 11 of 18, he led all rebounders with eight. The Eagles were outrebounded 42-32.
Jake Beitinger scored 17 points and Rodney Stuckey 15 for Eastern Washington (1-2). The closest Eastern Washington ever got was 14-11 halfway through the first half. USC peeled off a 10-0 run to get it to 24-11.
The rest of the game the Eagles wouldn’t get any closer, once falling behind 40-18. At that point, they played their best ball, getting a 9-0 run that left them behind 40-27. Young collected four of the Trojans’ next six buckets, however, as USC held serve, leading 52-36 with less than nine minutes to go.
The next four minutes exemplified the Eagles’ frustration. On four straight possessions, the Trojans missed a shot and EWU rebounded, only to turn the ball over three times at their end. On the fourth trip, Beitinger finally got a shot off but missed and the USC rebound became a basket for a 54-39 lead.
“There were times we did not cut hard or make the extra pass; we were just milling about, and against a team like that you’re going to suffer,” Burns said. “They set screens in a certain way that you have to do things to get around those or they’ll exploit you and they did that to us.”
USC coach Tim Floyd started two big freshmen, 6-foot-8 Jeremy Barr and 6-10 RouSean Cromwell, in place of two upperclassmen.
“We are trying to figure out who we can trust and who we can rely on in different situations,” Floyd said. “The guys who didn’t start came in and played their best games of the year.”
“Those two big kids are good players,” Burns said. “I think they wanted to neutralize us inside and they were able to do that with those guys.”
USC 69, Eastern Washington 51
Eastern Washington (1-2)–Butorac 2-3 0-0 4, Bekkering 2-2 1-2 5, Humphrey 0-1 0-0 0, Beitinger 6-16 3-4 17, Livi 1-3 0-0 2, Penoncello 1-3 0-0 2, Smith II 1-5 0-0 2, Stuckey 6-17 1-2 15, Risper 0-2 0-2 0, Williams 1-4 2-2 4, Zumwalt 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 20-57 7-12 51.
Southern California (1-2)–Stewart 4-11 0-0 8, Gaudino 0-0 0-0 0, Shackleford 0-2 0-0 0, Pruitt 4-8 3-3 13, Young 11-18 3-4 25, Penrose 0-0 0-0 0, Francis 2-4 0-0 4, Ndiaye 4-6 0-0 8, Wilkinson 0-0 0-0 0, Odzic 1-3 0-0 2, Robinson 0-0 0-0 0, Barr 4-8 1-3 9, Cromwell 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 30-62 7-10 69.
Halftime – USC 36, Eastern Washington 18. 3-point goals – Eastern Washington 4-16 (Beitinger 2-4, Stuckey 2-5, Butorac 0-1, Livi 0-1, Zumwalt 0-1, Penoncello 0-1, Humphrey 0-1, Smith II 0-2), Southern California 2-6 (Pruitt 2-3, Shackleford 0-1, Odzic 0-2). Fouled out – None. Rebounds – Eastern Washington 32 (Beitinger 6), Southern California 42 (Young 8). Assists – Eastern Washington 10 (Beitinger, Bekkering, Butorac 2), Southern California 18 (Francis 8). Total fouls – Eastern Washington 16, Southern California 16. A – 5,761.