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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Eagles struggle in second half, lose to Nevada

Steve Yingling Special to The Spokesman-Review

RENO, Nev. — Minus all-time leading scorer Venky Jois, Eastern Washington needed to play a near-flawless game to upset Nevada in the College Basketball Invitational on Monday in Lawlor Events Center.

For a half, the Eagles did so. But the Pack reeled off 13 straight points to begin the second half, while the Eagles misfired on their first 11 attempts. The end result was an 85-70 Nevada victory.

“We knew we needed to win a shootout,” said Eagles coach Jim Hayford. “We played the exact game we wanted to in the first half. We just missed shots. The more we missed, the smaller the rim got, and we were playing with our backs against the wall the rest of the half.”

Hayford said that Jois, who injured his knee in last week’s game against Pepperdine, could have played.

“He was cleared to play by the doctor, but we weren’t going to do anything that would endanger his future,” Hayford said. “He is a first-team all-conference player and the guy who normally gets all of our twos around the basket, so it would have been nice to have him, but no excuses.”

After draining 51.4 percent of their first-half field goal attempts, the Eagles tailed off to 28.6 percent in the final 20 minutes.

Nevada started the second half by tightening their man defense and immediately forced a turnover. It was a precursor of more offensive struggles for Eastern. The Eagles didn’t score until Sir Washington sank a free throw with 14:28 remaining. By then, the Pack enjoyed a 56-46 advantage.

A defensive switch by Nevada coach Eric Mussleman slowed down Eastern’s offense after halftime. With Eagles point guard Austin McBroom leading all first-half scorers with 17 points, Musselman gave Tyron Criswell the assignment of guarding McBroom in the second half. It paid off as McBroom missed all seven of his second-half shots.

“We just thought T.C. could bother him a little bit, and he was awesome,” Musselman said.

Unfortunately for the Eagles. they weren’t rebounding their missed shots. After outrebounding the Pack, 18-16, in the first half, Nevada dominated the second half with a 29-9 edge on the boards.

“The rebounds were something we talked about that we were really disappointed with … they had six offensive rebounds in the first half,” Musselman said. “To go 20-plus in the second half is kind of unheard of.”

Near the midpoint of the second half the Eagles regained their shooting strokes, especially from beyond the arc. Back-to-back 3-pointers by Felix Von Hof trimmed Nevada’s lead to 58-52, and Jesse Hunt’s trifecta from the wing pulled Eastern to within 60-55 with 11:01 left.

However, Hunt fouled out with 9:57 remaining on Criswell’s drive to the basket. Cameron Oliver’s baseline jumper triggered a 13-2 spurt that gave the Pack its largest lead to that point, 73-57, with 6:27 left.