Eastern shows new resolve
The team that couldn’t shoot, couldn’t help Rodney Stuckey and couldn’t finish did all of that Thursday night and the result was impressive.
Eastern Washington put four players in double figures, hit 16 of 17 free throws in the second half and, after blowing a 10-point lead, recovered to pull away for an 87-75 men’s basketball win over Sacramento State before 2,330 fans at Reese Court.
The Eagles (9-12, 4-4 Big Sky Conference), who blew double-figure leads in both road games last weekend, handed the Hornets (13-9, 4-4) their fourth straight loss and 11th straight at Reece.
“I think the reason that we were able to hold onto our lead this time was that we have a young team that has been through that already and we are improving,” Eagles coach Mike Burns said. “Some of our improvement comes from some guys stepping up and executing.”
Stuckey did his usual thing, scoring 27 points, but he was far from a one-man show. Matt Penoncello and Deuce Smith combined for seven 3-pointers to score 18 points each, Paul Butorac had 13 points, Kellen Williams grabbed eight rebounds and Rhett Humphrey dished off six assists.
It helped that after hitting just 8 of 16 free throws and shooting 43.3 percent from the field in the first half, the Eagles found their range from the line and the field (14-27) in the second half. They also hit 9 of 17 3-pointers.
“It’s nice to see guys step up,” Burns said, singling out Penoncello and Smith. “There’s always that worry you have as a coach of who is going to step up during the game. Sacramento State really made it a point to stop Stuckey tonight and he still got his baskets, but some other guys stepped up and I think that was the difference in the game”
Penoncello hit 4 of 5 3-pointers, including a dagger from the left wing that gave the Eagles a 71-69 with 3:41 left.
“Once you get out there and they start going in, they start going in. You’ve got to keep putting them up there,” said Penoncello, whose previous best was 11 points at Sacramento State. “Teams are coming out and putting a lot of pressure on Rodney … eventually we’ve just got to step up and take the pressure off him.”
Sacramento State tied the game after Penoncello’s 3, but Stuckey followed with a three-point play to start a game-ending 16-4 run.
The Eagles went up eight in the opening seconds of the second half before the aggressive Hornets reeled off 10 straight points. With the game tied at 52, the Eagles ran off 10 straight. Stuckey hit two free throws and Penoncello drilled a 3. Following a technical on Justin Williams, Stuckey made two free throws and Penoncello knocked down a 3 from the right corner on the ensuing possession.
The Eagles had carved out a 38-33 lead at the half – without Stuckey.
EWU was trailing 28-25 when Stuckey picked up his second foul at the 5:06 mark. Butorac scored seven of his 11 points and Smith and Williams hit 3-pointers to spark the rally.
“The team that was in there when Rodney went out … did an incredible job of not playing too fast, getting the ball to the people we needed to get it and we got the buckets we needed,” Penoncello said.