Bobcats shoot by Eagles

BOZEMAN, Mont. – It’s hard to believe Montana State could hurt Eastern Washington much more than it did in December, when the Bobcats opened Big Sky Conference men’s basketball play by hitting 13 of 32 3-pointers, including a game-ending buzzer-beater, to defeat the Eagles 82-79.

But they did.

Despite a rare spirited first-half defensive effort by Eastern Thursday night, MSU constantly beat the shot-clock buzzer to drain six 3s on just 13 attempts – and improved on that in the second half against the demoralized Eagles.

The result was a particularly devastating 84-67 loss for the Eagles at Brick Breeden Fieldhouse.

“I’m at a loss for words,” Eagles senior Paul Butorac said. “We’re all frustrated. It was a big game. We really needed to win.”

Coupled with Portland State’s 70-68 win at Montana, Saturday’s opponent, Eastern dropped to seventh place in the Big Sky, putting the Eagles in jeopardy of missing the conference tournament for the first time since 1997.

“We’ve got five games left, we have to finish five games hard,” Eagles star Rodney Stuckey said. “Montana is good. It’s hard to play in their gym.”

Montana State scored the last eight points of the first half to forge a 40-34 lead after nine ties and 12 lead changes.

“That was the turning point in the game,” Eagles coach Mike Burns said. “We thought we played pretty well in the first half and we ended up going in down by six.”

The first dagger was a long 3 from the top by freshman Erik Rush, a 13 percent shooter from beyond the arc, with an Eagle in his face just before the shot clock went off.

Then a quick, long 3 attempt by EWU’s Omar Krayem led to a breakaway layup for Rush. After a Stuckey shot rimmed out, the Bobcats had a chance for the final shot and pulled it off. Branden Johnson hit a 3 just before the buzzer, despite fumbling the ball and being forced into a desperation throw.

There was a point in the first half, with MSU shooting about 30 percent, when it seemed like the Eagles were poised to break the game open. Eastern went almost 8 minutes without missing a shot but had six turnovers, mostly on ill-advised passes, and the Bobcats stayed even. Shortly after that MSU found the range, hitting seven of its last 10 shots and finishing 45 percent from the floor for the half.

EWU reverted to its usual indifferent defense in the second half and MSU shot 56 percent, including 6 of 10 on 3-pointers.

“That’s why we’re losing, we don’t play defense for 40 minutes,” Stuckey said. “We played good defense in the first half, in the second half. …”

Stuckey finished with 24 points and his five rebounds led the team.