Eastern ends NAU win streak

With gritty defense and clutch offense, Eastern Washington ended the nation’s longest men’s basketball winning streak by defeating Northern Arizona 73-61 before 2,895 raucous fans Saturday night at Reese Court.

NAU (16-7, 8-1) had won 10 straight, including eight in the Big Sky Conference. The first conference win was a 105-95 shootout over the Eagles when freshman sensation Rodney Stuckey poured in 45 points. This time EWU (10-12, 5-4) tightened up the defense and only needed 28 points from Stuckey.

“The difference between the game at Northern Arizona and today’s game was our defense,” Eagles coach Mike Burns said. “We had better effort and focus playing on our home court than we did playing at Northern Arizona.”

The Eagles took the lead for good when Derek Risper made a tip-in off a missed free throw with 7 minutes left, starting a 16-5 run that produced a 10-point lead with just more than 2 minutes left.

“This was an important win,” Risper said. “This is the kind of game we needed. To be in a tough game with a good team and close it out like we did. We worked hard for it … if we keep playing like that the sky’s the limit for this team.”

The sharp-shooting Lumberjacks hit 3 of 17 from 3-point range and shot 35.9 percent for the game, a far cry from the 66 percent they shot in the first game.

“In the first game that we played Northern Arizona, we put too much of an emphasis on stopping their 3-point shooters and we got beat by the dribble,” Burns said. “We had to do a better job of defending them off of the dribble and that’s what we did tonight. We did a better job of putting pressure on the basketball and that helped us beat a very good team.”

The Eagles got off to slow start, falling behind 14-4 as the Lumberjacks only missed one shot and Paul Butorac, who had EWU’s two baskets on dunks, was on the bench with two fouls.

But Eastern finally started to connect and went on a 10-0 run that included a 2-minute stretch with Stuckey out with a cramp. As soon as Stuckey returned, he hit a 3-pointer from deep on the right wing to give the Eagles their first lead at 20-18.

Josh Wilson scored just before the buzzer to give NAU a 31-30 lead.

Despite tight defense from NAU, Stuckey led the Eagles in scoring for the 19th straight game. Matt Penoncello added 12, including a clutch 3-pointer with 2:14 remaining to make it 63-53. He also had some of the clutch free throws as Eastern made 14 of 16 in the final 5 minutes. Butorac had 10 points and four blocked shots, giving him the school record with 40. The previous best was 37 by Matt Peppers 25 years ago.

“It’s just something I do,” the 6-foot-10 sophomore from Medical Lake said. “When I see a man needs help, I just come over and help him out, try to get my hand in the way so we can go the other way.”

Risper, a 6-8 junior out of Saddleback (Calif.) Community College, had his best offensive showing for a 10-10 double-double in 30 minutes off the bench.

“I’ve just been working hard in practice, trying to get better and make my team better,” he said. “In games it’s paying off. I’m just going out and trying to play hard, rebounding, doing whatever it takes for the team to win.”

EWU 73, NAU 61

Northern Arizona (16-7, 8-1)—Golob 4-7 2-2 11, Boykin Jr. 4-11 5-7 14, McCurdy 4-7 2-5 10, Bazy 3-12 2-3 8, Wilson 5-10 0-0 11, Van Patten 0-0 0-0 0, Seckold 0-0 0-0 0, Sir 1-12 0-0 2, Landry 1-4 1-2 3, Green 0-0 0-0 0, Hensley 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 23-64 12-19 61.

Eastern Washington (10-12, 5-4)—Penoncello 3-5 5-6 12, Williams 2-4 0-0 5, Butorac 4-8 2-3 10, Stuckey 8-20 11-14 28, Smith 1-5 0-0 3, Bekkering 0-0 0-0 0, Humphrey 0-1 0-0 0, Zumwalt 1-1 0-0 3, Beitinger 1-3 0-0 2, Risper 5-7 0-1 10. Totals 25-54 18-24 73.

Halftime—Northern Arizona 31, Eastern Washington 30. 3-point goals—Northern Arizona 3-17 (Boykin Jr. 1-2, Golob 1-3, Wilson 1-4, Bazy 0-1, Sir 0-7), Eastern Washington 5-14 (Williams 1-1, Zumwalt 1-1, Penoncello 1-3, Smith 1-3, Stuckey 1-4, Butorac 0-1, Humphrey 0-1). Fouled out—Golob. Rebounds—Northern Arizona 38 (Boykin Jr. 12), Eastern Washington 42 (Risper 10). Assists—Northern Arizona 7 (McCurdy, Wilson 2), Eastern Washington 14 (Penoncello, Stuckey 3). Total fouls—Northern Arizona 24, Eastern Washington 19. A—2,895.