Eastern Washington keeps its eye on finishing third
After securing a berth in the Big Sky Conference tournament Thursday night, the Eastern Washington men’s basketball team wants more – a home game in the quarterfinals on March 3.
“I hope we can translate this win to our remaining home game,” Eastern head coach Jim Hayford said of the Eagles’ 85-78 win at Idaho State – their fourth win in seven conference road games.
“If you want to be in the postseason, you have to get road wins and we have four in the conference this year,” Hayford said. “That’s fantastic – now let’s try to get five.”
That win came despite three Eagles fouling out and leading scorer Collin Chiverton playing just 3 minutes before suffering a back injury early in the game.
But EWU still managed to handle the pressure and sink 9 of 10 free throws in the final 41 seconds to hold off the Bengals.
“Nothing surprises me anymore,” said Hayford, while adding that Chiverton’s status will be a “game-time decision.”
The Eagles (13-15, 7-7 Big Sky) can clinch a host spot for the quarterfinals with another win against the Bengals (7-7) on Tuesday at Reese Court, regardless of the outcome of their game at Portland State (8-6) tonight.
Even if the Eagles were to lose and ISU beats Sacramento State, EWU would take the home spot by winning Tuesday. Both teams would finish 8-8, but the Eagles would own the first tie-breaker: a sweep of the two-game series.
On the other hand, a win over PSU and loss to ISU wouldn’t guarantee a home game; that scenario involves a complicated set of three-way tie-breakers.
Winning both games would guarantee a third-place finish, even if Portland State wins its final game Tuesday at home against Northern Colorado. That would put EWU and PSU in a two-way tie at 9-7, and the applicable tie-breaker would be the Eagles’ sweep against Montana State.
If the Eagles finish third, they would probably host Montana State in the quarterfinals.
The Eagles could still finish as low as sixth if EWU drops its last two games and MSU wins its last two.