Eastern topples Pilots
Stanojevic, Valentine split role as leaders
PORTLAND – Milan Stanojevic scored 17 points, all in the first half, and Benny Valentine added 15, including 12 in the second half, to lead Eastern Washington to a 63-58 non-conference men’s basketball victory over Portland on Wednesday.
EWU (5-2) led the entire way until Jared Stohl hit a 3-pointer to put the Pilots ahead 43-42 with 12:30 left in the game.
But down the stretch, the 5-foot-7 Valentine repeatedly slashed his way through the Portland defense. Valentine’s inside basket gave EWU a 50-49 lead with 6:15 remaining, and he added another 10 points during the next 5 minutes to lift the Eagles to the win at Chiles Center.
Eastern held Portland to nine points in the final 8:21.
“That was a heck of a win,” EWU coach Kirk Earlywine said. “Portland was playing awfully well, with wins over Washington and Nevada.”
Robin Smeulders led Portland (4-2) with 18 points, but he was the only Pilot in double figures.
Eastern broke through Portland’s zone defense in the first half by hitting 7 of 10 3-pointers and 62 percent from the floor.
Stanojevic dominated the first half, hitting five 3-pointers, to help the Eagles grab a 35-28 lead at the break. He was 6 for 6 from the floor in the first half as Eastern led by as many as 13 points.
The 17 points Stanojevic scored in the first 20 minutes equaled his season high. The Pilots shut him down in the second half with a focused defensive effort.
Eastern’s Brandon Moore and Mark Dunn had eight rebounds apiece, including four apiece on the offensive end. The Eagles had a 35-31 rebounding edge.
The Pilots entered the game shooting almost 50 percent from the floor, but Eastern held them to 37 percent shooting. Nik Raivio, the team’s leading scorer, missed 10 of 12 shots and finished with seven points.
“I know we’re not going to shut anybody out – I tell our players that all the time,” Earlywine said. “But we need to make teams earn their points. For the most part tonight, we did not give them points. They had to earn them.”
Eastern, off to its best start in six years, opens Big Sky Conference play Saturday at home against Montana State.