Alton Hamilton IV makes pair of free throws to give Eastern Washington win against Montana 66-65

The situation Eastern Washington found itself in late during Saturday’s game against Montana was a situation the Eagles’ men’s basketball team has been in many times this year: trailing, but victory within reach, so long as most of the final possessions went the Eagles’ way.

Finally, they did.

With 4.7 seconds left, Alton Hamilton IV made the first and the second half of a one-and-one at the line to put Eastern ahead by one, and then the junior forward tipped Montana’s subsequent inbound pass, helping his team secure a 66-65 victory at Reese Court in Cheney.

“All you can do is trust your reps,” Hamilton said of the free throws, which came after he was fouled while grabbing an offensive rebound. “Thinking about it is going to make you miss.”

With 3 minutes, 56 seconds left, Te’Jon Sawyer made a layup that gave Montana a 65-57 lead. But across Montana’s final eight possessions, the Grizzlies did not score.

Kiree Huie answered Sawyer’s shot with a 2 of his own just 13 seconds later, and over the next five possessions the two teams traded turnovers until Isaiah Moses drained a 3 from the wing to get the Eagles back within a possession, 65-62, with 1:49 left.

After the Grizzlies missed a 3, Hamilton drove for a layup a minute later to get the Eagles within one, 65-64.

Money Williams missed a shot with 26 seconds left on the other end, but Kenyon Aguino grabbed the rebound and was fouled, sending the Montana forward to the line for a one-and-one with 23 seconds to go. With most in the crowd of 2,343 shouting at him, Aguino’s first attempt clanged off the rim and landed in the hands of Huie, and the Eagles called timeout.

“(The plan was) to give me a high ball screen, see if I can make a play,” EWU redshirt senior Moses said of the Eagles’ final offensive possession that followed. “I think I got a good look on a step back, missed it, but big shout-out to Alton.”

Hamilton, who said the only chance he was touching the ball on that possession was if he grabbed a rebound, had never been in a spot like the one that came next, standing at the line with a chance to tie and then take the lead.

But he delivered, and his tip on the inbound pass – which came after Montana called its last timeout – proved crucial. With one second left on the clock, and Montana’s Williams driving toward the basket, the referees whistled the play dead to check the clock, which hadn’t started until Williams caught the tipped inbound pass.

Referees ruled that the clock should have started with Hamilton’s tip, so they took a half-second off the clock and gave Montana the ball with 0.5 seconds left with one last chance to inbound. Eastern knocked that away, too, and the buzzer sounded.

The Eagles (3-13, 1-2 Big Sky) ended the game on a 9-0 run and handed the Grizzlies (9-8, 3-1) their first league loss of the season.

“Unfortunately we’ve had a lot of practice being down seven or eight with a few minutes to go,” EWU head coach Dan Monson said. “Today they stayed together better instead of guys going and trying to make plays (because) they want to win so badly.”

The series of defensive stops late was particularly meaningful, Monson said.

“We’ve been so bad defensively,” he said. “It was really gratifying, and it gives us some hope that we’re going to get better on that end of the floor.”

Williams, the Big Sky’s leading scorer, finished 6 of 13 from the field and 6 of 6 at the foul line for 18 points, one shy of his season average. He also grabbed seven rebounds and added four assists and four turnovers.

Moses, whose 17.5 points per game ranks fifth in the league, finished with 20 points on 8 of 14 shooting, including a 4 of 9 day from 3-point range. He had five assists and just one turnover. As a team the Eagles had just nine turnovers, a season low.

Hamilton was one of three other Eagles players to score in double figures, finishing with 10 points. Huie, the grad senior, had 10, and redshirt sophomore Emmett Marquardt scored 12 points off the bench, just his third double-digit scoring game this year after he had 16 last season.

“There have been games where he hasn’t gotten very many,” Moses said of Marquardt, who made 3 of 3 shots from 3-point range. “He stayed with it. He’s always got a great attitude. That’s why he’s the captain of our team.”

Monson tinkered with his starting lineup, inserting grad senior guard Johnny Radford, who got his first start since late November. Eight different players have started at least four times this season.

“We’re trying to push every button we can to get a good start and shake things up,” Monson said. “I think that’s the coaches’ job. I tell them, you’re insane if you keep doing the same stuff and expecting different results, and I’m not insane. I am going to keep changing lineups and changing how we’re defending ball screens and changing defenses and players until we get it figured out. Hopefully we got some answers today.”

Women

Eastern Washington 65, Montana 58: Guard Ella Gallatin scored 20 points and forward Kourtney Grossman recorded her ninth double-double of the season for Eastern Washington, which cruised to a Big Sky Conference win over last-place Montana on Saturday at Dahlberg Arena in Missoula.

Gallatin shot 10 of 17 from the field to lead four Eagles in double figures. Grossman, the nation’s leading rebounder, had 17 boards and 11 points, and forward Jaecy Eggers pulled down 14 rebounds.

EWU (8-8, 1-2 Big Sky) shot 38.4% from the field and 3 of 17 on 3s, but committed only six turnovers and collected 14 offensive rebounds, outrebounding the Grizzlies (3-12, 0-4) by 11 in all.