Eagles build big lead, then hold on

Eastern Washington University hasn’t had the luxury of playing with a big lead very often in recent years – a fact that became apparent during Monday night’s non-conference men’s basketball game against the University of Idaho.

But after giving back most of the 21-point lead they carved out early in the second half, the Eagles found a way to hang on and turn back the persistent Vandals 69-59 in front of a Reese Court crowd of 1,831.

Eastern (3-1) used a 14-point, 10-rebound double-double from junior center Brandon Moore and a dominating performance on the offensive boards to offset the 25-point scoring outburst of Idaho’s Mac Hopson and eventually ride out an inspired late-game comeback by the Vandals (2-3), who closed to within 60-53 with 6 ½ minutes left to make things much more interesting than the Eagles wanted.

“There’s definitely a mind-set and a skill to playing with a lead like that,” second-year EWU coach Kirk Earlywine said. “I was pretty sure that Idaho was going to make a run, and I was curious to see how our guys were going to react to that run.

“Some of the reaction was good, and some of it wasn’t so good. It was good that we were tough enough in the back stretch there to hold on, make our free throws and not make too many mistakes.”

It helped, too, that the Eagles managed to dig out several of their 13 offensive rebounds in the final six minutes, inching shut Idaho’s comeback window.

“Our offensive rebounding was a huge key,” Earlywine added. “We missed 25 shots and got 13 offensive rebounds. Any time you get half of (your missed shots) back, you’re doing pretty good – and it allowed us to milk more time off the clock.”

Moore, who grabbed six of his rebounds off the offensive glass, echoed his coach’s sentiments.

“Offensive rebounds just kill defenses,” he said, “because they guard for 35 seconds and then you get a new shot clock started. They’re crucial, because they can really discourage a defense.”

First-year Idaho coach Don Verlin, while satisfied with the way his team played in slicing into EWU’s big second-half lead, had some obvious issues over his Vandals’ first half performance.

“We came out with a lot more intensity in the second half,” he said. “But the bottom line is, we didn’t play hard that first half – not up to my expectations, anyway – and that’s what I told our kids at halftime. You can not win on the road against a well-coached team if you don’t play hard, and we didn’t play hard.”

Verlin did mention an exception, however, in Hopson, who made 8 of 14 field-goal attempts and also finished with five assists, five rebounds and three of UI’s seven steals.

In the second half, the Vandals seemed much more active on defense. And on the offensive end, they created many more scoring chances than they did in the first half and got to the foul line.

Their comeback was made a bit easier by the foul trouble Eastern’s scoring leader Benny Valentine encountered late in the game. The Eagles’ junior point guard, who finished with 13 points and four assists, picked up his fourth foul with just under nine minutes left in the game and his team leading 60-45.

Valentine watched from the bench as UI scored 10 unanswered points during an EWU scoring drought that spanned almost 4 ½ minutes. But he made his way in and out of the lineup the remainder of the game and helped steady Eastern’s offense while also making four clutch free throws in the final minute.

The Eagles, who were scheduled to fly out of Spokane early this morning for a Wednesday night matchup against Minnesota in Minneapolis, got 12 points from junior guard Milan Stanojevic and seven points and six rebounds from sophomore guard Trey Gross.

Idaho, which returns home to entertain UC Irvine on Friday, got 11 points and five boards from junior forward Kashif Watson, but lost the rebounding battle 33-25.

EWU 69, Idaho 59

Idaho (2-3) — de Souza 2-9 2-3 7, Watson 3-7 4-8 11, Jefferson 2-6 2-2 6, Hopson 8-14 6-8 25, Simmons 1-3 0-0 2, Wiley 2-3 1-2 5, Morris 1-2 0-0 3, Eisinger 0-1 0-0 0, Brown 0-0 0-0 0, Augusto 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 19-47 15-23 59.

Eastern Washington (3-1) — Genao 2-3 4-4 8, Dunn 0-2 0-0 0, Moore 5-12 4-4 14, Valentine 2-5 9-12 13, Stanojevic 5-8 0-0 12, Christensen 2-4 3-3 7, Gibson 2-4 1-2 6, Gross 3-6 0-0 7, Brunell 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 22-47 21-25 69.

Halftime—E. Washington 41-23. 3-Point Goals—Idaho 6-19 (Hopson 3-5, Morris 1-2, Watson 1-3, de Souza 1-6, Eisinger 0-1, Simmons 0-2), E. Washington 4-13 (Stanojevic 2-4, Gibson 1-2, Gross 1-2, Christensen 0-1, Genao 0-1, Valentine 0-3). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—Idaho 25 (Hopson, Watson, Wiley 5), E. Washington 33 (Moore 10). Assists—Idaho 12 (Hopson 5), E. Washington 9 (Valentine 4). Total Fouls—Idaho 21, E. Washington 21. A—1,831.