Eagles win, to entertain Portland St.

POCATELLO, Idaho – Freshman Rodney Stuckey took over the game down the stretch and finished with 29 points in leading Eastern Washington to a 94-87 win over Idaho State on Monday night that set up the first round of the Big Sky Conference men’s basketball tournament.

The loss eliminated the Bengals (13-14, 4-9) and put the Eagles (14-14, 9-5), who finished third, into a first-round game with Portland State (13-15, 5-9), which assumed the No. 6 spot with ISU losing, Saturday night at 7:05 in Cheney.

Portland State finished the league season with four straight wins, but the Vikings will be without starting center Scott Morrison for that game.

Morrison was suspended for one game Monday by the conference for throwing a punch following his team’s 93-92 overtime win Saturday over Montana.

“We talked about this being a playoff game – even for us,” said Eagles coach Mike Burns. “It was a loser-out game for Idaho State and it was a road game for us. If we want to meet our goal of making it to the NCAA Tournament, we will have to win playoff games on the road. It was nice to see our players step up under those conditions tonight.”

Local products Rhett Humphrey and Paul Butorac each had 15 points for EWU. Matt Penoncello chipped in 13 and Kellen Williams added 10 as Eastern’s bench out-scored ISU’s 27-2.

“It was a total team win,” said Burns.