Big second half sparks Eagles
ANCHORAGE – Eastern Washington got it half right again. This time it was enough.
The Eagles washed away their customary slow start with another big second half and then survived three late misses by Alaska Anchorage to escape with a 64-62 men’s basketball victory Saturday at Sullivan Arena. EWU (2-5) claimed seventh place at the Great Alaska Shootout while the host Seawolves (2-3) settled for eighth.
By EWU standards, trailing by eight in the first nine minutes didn’t seem too bad. The Eagles have gone into halftime down by at least 11 points in their previous six games.
“I didn’t know what to do – we weren’t down double digits at half,” EWU coach Kirk Earlywine joked. “I wish I knew the answers to our struggles in the first half of games, but once again we looked like a completely different team offensively in the second half.”
Actually, the Eagles went to work about midway through the first half. Although EWU doesn’t have much depth on the bench, backups Brandon Moore and Milan Stanojevic provided an important spark. The 6-foot-9 Moore powered inside for six quick points and Stanojevic swished a pair of 3-pointers.
“They were huge,” said senior Kellen Williams, who had 13 points and 11 boards. “Milan hit a couple of 3s and ‘B-Moore’ was huge, too. He came in and got some easy buckets for us and some huge rebounds.”
Williams’ 3 gave EWU its first lead at 19-18, but the NCAA Division II Seawolves rallied to take a 26-23 advantage at halftime.
EWU took care of that on its first two possessions of the second half. Adris DeLeon and Williams hit 3s as the Eagles made their first six shot attempts, four of them 3-pointers. Trey Gross’ 3-pointer from the corner put the Eagles in front 40-30.
“They have good shooters that were really struggling coming in,” Seawolves coach Rusty Osborne said. “We looked at Milan coming out of junior college, (so) we know their guys. We told our guys, ‘You can’t give them an open look and let them get comfortable.’ “
EWU led by as many as 12 and was still ahead 59-49 after Moore scored on the low block with 5:46 remaining.
The 16th-ranked Seawolves brought the crowd back into the game when McCade Olsen drained consecutive 3-pointers and Carl Arts, who scored 21, made a short bank shot, trimming EWU’s lead to 64-62 with 1:30 left.
Chris Bryant’s 3-point attempt, which would have put the Seawolves ahead, came up short and Moore collected the rebound and was fouled. He missed the free throw, setting up a frantic final 5.1 seconds.
“In the timeouts, we were just talking about getting a stop, getting one defensive rebound and we could win the game,” Williams said.
Olsen took the inbound pass and one dribble before casting a 3-pointer that was way off line. Gross grabbed the rebound, but the ball was stripped loose and Bryant appeared to get bumped as he missed from about 7 feet at the buzzer.
“It looked to me like he got hit, but who knows? Maybe he fouled the Eastern Washington guy to get the ball,” Osborne said.
EWU’s bench contributed 26 points. The Eagles shot a blistering 57.7 percent in the second half, 54.5 percent on 3-pointers. EWU also outrebounded UAA 30-24.
Gross, DeLeon and Stanojevic each scored nine points.
“Alaska Anchorage is a very good team,” said Earlywine, who called the Seawolves comparable to the Big Sky teams. “So it’s a terrific win for us.”
EWU will be at home for just the second time when Santa Clara visits Reese Court on Thursday.