Eastern needs to get a reversal

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – Beating Portland State in the first round of the Big Sky Conference men’s tournament was the goal, but hopefully the young Eastern Washington basketball players learned a valuable lesson from the Vikings as well.

Despite losing to the Eagles twice during the regular season and on the verge of being blown out in front of a hostile crowd, the Vikings pushed Eastern to the limit before falling 81-75 Saturday night.

Now the Eagles find themselves in the same position as PSU but hoping for a different result.

The victory moved the Eagles (15-14) into a semifinal game tonight against Montana (21-6), a team that swept the regular-season series by battling to the end.

Eastern had a double-figure lead in the second half before falling 78-72 in Missoula. In Cheney, it was 26-20 at halftime before the Grizzlies went on a 48-20 blitz in the second half to bury the Eagles.

“Montana is a great team and it will take a great effort to beat them,” EWU coach Mike Burns said. “It comes down to focus and effort for both teams. They had tremendous focus and had a great effort in the second half of the game we played at home. That’s why they won.”

Tipoff in Flagstaff is at 4 p.m. PST. The second semifinal is Sacramento State (15-14) against league-champion and host Northern Arizona (20-9).

Eastern Washington’s sensational freshman, Rodney Stuckey, was amazing against PSU, scoring 38 points, but that won’t be enough against the Grizzlies. In Missoula he had 36, but lone senior Deuce Smith was the only other player in double figures with 11.

Although there weren’t many points to go around after Stuckey, multiple players scored key points against Portland State, which has often been the case down the stretch as the Eagles have won seven of their last eight games against league opponents. That loss, however, was the Grizzlies debacle, when Paul Butorac, with 11, was the only offensive support behind Stuckey’s season-low 14.

“They play good defense and execute on offense,” Stuckey said. “They can go inside outside so we’ve just got to be ready to play. We have to execute, play defense and rebound.”

Montana, one of the best shooting teams in the nation, shot 35 percent in the first half but made 65 percent (22 of 34) in the second half in Cheney.

“They made plays that we expect ourselves to make, such as taking charges and getting offensive rebounds,” Burns said. “Our team has overcome many challenges this season but (that) was not one of them.”

It was a similar scenario in Missoula when the Grizzlies shot 55 percent in the second half, including making 3-pointgers on three consecutive possessions, to erase a 10-point deficit with less than 10 minutes remaining.

Turnovers were part of the problem and that was one of the reasons the Eagles couldn’t put away Portland State.

“The turnovers are something that I need to work on and it’s something I haven’t done for the past couple of weeks,” Stuckey said. “It will not happen again.”

The Grizzlies are led by 6-foot-8 sophomore post Andrew Strait, who averages 17.1 points on 65 percent shooting, and 6.7 rebounds. Senior guard Kevin Criswell adds 16.6 points. Both all-conference picks had 39 points in the two previous meetings.

Montana swept Eastern last season and then eliminated the Eagles in the first round of the league tournament. The Grizzlies now have a five-game winning streak against EWU.

The championship game, televised on ESPN2, is Wednesday at 6:35 p.m. PST.

Tonight’s winners meet in the championship game on Wednesday at 6:35 p.m. PST.