Good end to opener
Genao’s late scoring spurs EWU in first Big Sky game
Andy Genao followed the lead of his teammates Saturday night and took his own sweet time getting involved in Eastern Washington University’s offense.
But after scoring only two points in the first 36 minutes of EWU’s Big Sky Conference men’s basketball opener against Montana State, Genao knocked down three straight baskets to fuel a late surge that carried the Eagles to a 61-55 win in front of an appreciative Reese Court crowd of 2,257.
Genao, a 6-foot-3 senior guard who redshirted last winter after transferring from Prairie View A&M, also pulled down a game-high nine rebounds, and teammates Bennie Valentine and Mark Dunn combined for 27 points as Eastern (6-2) beat the Bobcats (3-3) for the first time in five tries and took over the early lead in the Big Sky standings.
“It’s a big win for us, sure because the alternative was to be 0-1,” second-year Eastern coach Kirk Earlywine said. “At times this year, in other games, things have come easy for us – and tonight, nothing came easy.
“I credit Montana State for that, but I also take my hat off to our guys to be tough enough to hang in there and win this type of game.”
Genao wasn’t the only Eastern player who struggled to score early in the game. The Eagles made only three of their first 19 field-goal attempts, but they did enough good work on the boards and the defensive end of the court to keep the Bobcats in sight.
When Valentine, who finished with a team-high 15 points, sparked an early second-half run with assists on three consecutive possessions to help erase MSU’s 33-28 halftime lead, Eastern was in position to dig out the victory.
The first of Genao’s three late baskets came on a cut down the lane and a nice pass from Dunn, a 6-8 junior center who scored a career-high 12 points. Genao then knocked down a bucket from the top of the key with the shot clock winding down, and later added another two points on an aggressive drive to put the Eagles up 59-55 with 26 second remaining.
“I’ve told Andy that he needs to play harder than the other guys on the floor,” Earlywine said. “And he did that during that stretch.”
Genao said he was trying to do what he could to help his team.
“The one thing I know I can do is play hard,” he said. “I tried to that again tonight and a couple of my shots just ended up going in at the end.
“This was definitely a big win, because we wanted to prove we’re one of the top competitors in our conference, and I think we made that kind of statement tonight.”
MSU got a game-high 21 points from Will Bynum, and a splendid defensive effort from Marquis Navarre, who hounded Valentine most of the night and held him to 6-for-17 shooting from the field.
“That kid is a hell of a defender, and he did a good job tonight,” Earlywine said of Navarra, a 5-11 junior who seemed to match the quickness of the 5-6 Valentine. “But credit Benny for trusting his teammates. Sometimes, when things are not going as well as we’d like, it’s easy for him to go off on his own and try to get shots for himself.
“But he kept throwing the ball to the right spots tonight. It was good to see him trust his teammates.”
Valentine also ended up with four assists and a pair of steals, for the Eagles, who will take a week off to concentrate on final exams before traveling to Honolulu to play the University of Hawaii.
EWU 61, Montana St. 55
Montana St. (3-3, 0-1)—Howard 0-6 2-2 2, Rush 2-5 1-4 5, Mbunga 4-9 1-1 9, Navarre 1-7 0-0 2, Bynum 8-9 5-9 21, Hennessy 1-2 0-0 3, Piepoli 4-5 0-1 11, Anderson 0-2 0-0 0, Johnson 0-5 2-2 2. Totals 20-50 11-19 55.
Eastern Washington (6-2, 1-0)—Genao 4-7 0-0 8, Dunn 4-9 4-6 12, Moore 3-9 1-2 7, Valentine 6-17 0-0 15, Stanojevic 2-9 2-3 7, Christensen 2-3 0-0 4, Gibson 0-1 0-0 0, Gross 1-3 3-4 6, Brunell 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 23-60 10-15 61.
Halftime—Montana St. 33-28. 3-Point Goals—Montana St. 4-15 (Piepoli 3-3, Hennessy 1-2, Anderson 0-1, Navarre 0-2, Johnson 0-3, Howard 0-4), E. Washington 5-16 (Valentine 3-7, Gross 1-2, Stanojevic 1-6, Christensen 0-1). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—Montana St. 39 (Mbunga 7), E. Washington 36 (Genao 9). Assists—Montana St. 11 (Johnson 4), E. Washington 9 (Valentine 4). Total Fouls—Montana St. 14, E. Washington 18. Technical—Montana St. Bench. A—2,257.