Hinton’s shot lifts Eastern
Never a doubt.
Marcus Hinton kept Eastern Washington’s slim hopes for a berth in the Big Sky Conference basketball tournament alive Thursday night with a cold-blooded 3-pointer from the left corner with 2.6 seconds left to give the Eagles an 82-79 win over Idaho State before 2,238 fans at Reese Court.
“It felt good as soon as it went off my hands,” the transfer from Centralia Community College said. “I was hot all night, so I knew it was going to go in.”
Hot is an understatement.
Hinton, a graduate of Wilson High School in Tacoma who averages five points a game, came off the bench to hit his first eight shots and 9 of 11 overall, including all six of his 3-pointers, to finish with a game-high 24 points.
“It’s always been there,” Hinton said. “Tonight I felt good. The weird thing is before the game my shot wasn’t very good.”
The Eagles (14-14, 7-8 Big Sky) face Sacramento State (9-17, 4-10) in the regular-season finale Saturday at Reese. The Eagles need to win and hope Idaho State (12-14, 7-6) wins at Portland State (17-12, 8-7). PSU crushed Sacramento State 100-73 on Thursday.
The next best scenario is to hope ISU loses its last three games, two at home.
“We knew the only thing we could control was tonight’s game,” Eagles coach Mike Burns said. “We took care of tonight, so now the only thing we can control is Saturday’s game.”
Eastern’s last play, set up with 12.5 seconds left after Matt Stucki tied the game with a jumper from the free-throw line, was designed for Eagles star Rodney Stuckey.
“Before we came on the floor I told Rod I’d be ready and he said he’d look for me,” Hinton said. “Everybody collapsed on Rod and he found me.”
Stuckey accepted the ball at the end line, dribbled up the middle of the court, angled right, jumped up and fired a cross-court pass to Hinton. Hinton, who was 7 of 17 from 3-point range coming into the game, hit nothing but net.
It was the 10th assist for Stuckey, who also had 23 points.
“You’ve got to take your hat off to Marcus Hinton, that was an unbelievable performance,” Burns said. “Marcus didn’t get a lot of opportunities early and that shows the quality of kid he is, because when he came in he maximized his opportunities.”
Hinton, who had started 12 straight games before last weekend, didn’t enter the game until late in the first half and scored 12 points on five shots in 7 minutes. He scored all but one of Eastern’s last 13 points as the Eagles rallied from seven down to tie the game at 41.
The Bengals, last in the conference in scoring at 66.8 points a game, took a 43-41 lead when Akbar Abdul-Ahad scored with 4 seconds left in the half.
Hinton got in much earlier in the second half and picked up where he left off, hitting three 3-pointers before a miss with 7:48 to play.
“With the zone defense that Idaho State plays, it’s not so much about plays as it is about making plays,” Burns said. “Our guys did that tonight.”
Abdul-Ahad led the Bengals with 22 points, including a well-defended layup just seconds after Stuckey’s two free throws gave Eastern a 79-75 lead with 29.4 seconds left.
Matt Penoncello then missed a free throw, setting up Stucki’s tying shot.
Notes
Stuckey became the fourth Eagle to surpass 1,400 for his career. … Paul Butorac had one block, giving him 99 for his EWU career, and two dunks, giving him 100. … Hinton’s previous career high was 15 against The Evergreen State earlier this season. … ISU shot 50 percent and Austin Kilpatrick, a freshman from Puyallup, Wash., scored 14 points off the bench. He hit 5 of 6 shots, including four 3-pointers. … Eastern shot 55 percent. The Eagles hit 10 of 20 3-pointers and 16 of 20 free throws. …. Eastern had a 31-24 edge in rebounding with Butorac and Brandon Moore grabbing eight and Kellen Williams seven. … There were 13 ties and 16 lead changes. ISU’s last lead was 75-74 with 1:31 left, but Michael Taylor hit a 3-pointer from the left wing at 59 seconds for the Eagles. … Eastern also had 21 assists on 28 baskets.