Eastern Washington sets physical tone in 75-67 takedown of Sacramento State
After starting more than half of Eastern Washington’s men’s basketball games last season, it took an injury to a teammate for Tyler Powell to make his way back into a starting spot this year.
But on Saturday, while making his fourth straight start, Powell demonstrated what he brings to the court when he’s on his game: a little bit of everything.
The redshirt senior scored 14 points, matched a career high with seven rebounds, stole the ball twice and even blocked a shot off the hands of Sacramento State’s most productive player, helping the Eagles to a 75-67 victory at Reese Court in Cheney.
“He’s always been capable offensively, but when you’re the fourth or fifth option, (offense) is not why you play guys like that,” EWU head coach Dan Monson said. “He didn’t just come into the starting lineup to not mess up. He came in there to be aggressive, and he’s really done a good job of that.”
One play where that aggressiveness was on display came about five minutes into the second half with the Eagles ahead 46-40. Grad senior Johnny Radford put up a 3 from the same corner spot he’d made one from just a few minutes before, but this time it bounced off the rim.
Powell, though, crashed the board, grabbed the basketball, put it up for a 2 and drew a foul. He made the free throw, and from that point on, the Eagles (5-15, 3-4 Big Sky) never led the Hornets (6-13, 2-5) by fewer than seven points.
“They tell me every practice to go to the offensive board, to go to the defensive board. That’s what is most needed,” Powell said, smiling.
After that play, Powell looked right at the coaches and said, “I did it.”
The Eagles got sufficient offense from more than just Powell in a balanced effort: Grad senior forward Kiree Huie scored 16 points on 6 of 11 shooting, redshirt senior guard Isaiah Moses added 13 points, and junior forward Alton Hamilton IV scored in double digits (11 points) for the 13th time in his last 14 games.
Radford had six points and redshirt senior guard Jojo Anderson added nine after going scoreless Thursday in the Eagles’ 65-61 loss to Portland State.
The shared burden of scoring helped the Eagles stay ahead of the Hornets for all but 2 minutes and 18 seconds, including all of the second half when they pushed their advantage to as many as 14 points.
The Hornets made only 19 (of 44) shots, the fewest of any EWU opponent this season. A big reason for that was the performance of sophomore guard Mikey Williams, who scored a season-low four points, 13 shy of his average.
Williams played all 40 minutes but went 0 of 5 from the field, getting all his points at the free-throw line.
Monson said the Eagles have had difficulties slowing their opponents’ best players this season, pointing to the 22-point game Terri Miller Jr. had two days prior for Portland State.
“It starts in the first few minutes. If a guy sees one or two go in, they get really aggressive,” Monson said. “… We always say, the (opponent’s) best player has to have a bad day. We did the same thing to (Montana’s) Money Williams who had a bad day in (Cheney). If you can do that against their best player, you usually have a better chance.”
Sac State senior Prophet Johnson still scored 18 points, two more than his usual share this year, and true freshman Mark Lavrenov continued his ascension during league play with a game-high 26 points on 6 of 8 shooting and a 14-for-15 day at the free-throw line. Over his last four games, Lavrenov is averaging 20 points.
But otherwise, the only Hornets player with more than four points was reserve guard Taj Glover (10 points).
Senior Elijah Thomas, one of the Eagles’ strongest defenders, returned after missing the last three games with an injury. He played five minutes, grabbing one rebound and stealing the ball once.
Saturday’s game was Eastern’s last one in Cheney until Feb. 12; the Eagles will play their next four on the road, starting Thursday at Northern Arizona.
Women
• Sacramento State 61, Eastern Washington 54: The Eagles had a shaky first half and couldn’t complete a second-half rally, falling at Hornet Pavilion in Sacramento.
EWU (10-10, 3-4 Big Sky) managed one point over the final 3:40 of the second quarter and stumbled to a 31-22 halftime deficit, but stayed within striking distance despite the Hornets (10-10, 4-3) leading by as many as 13 points in the third.
The Eagles closed the gap to one point with under three minutes left in the game, but Sacramento State answered with a 3 and hit all 10 of its free-throw attempts down the stretch to ice it.
EWU post Kourtney Grossman, the nation’s leading rebounder (13.1 per game), recorded 12 points and 10 rebounds for her 13th double-double of the season. Eagles guards Ella Gallatin and Elyn Bowers had 17 and 14 points, respectively, but combined to shoot 11 of 31 from the field. EWU shot 40.4% overall, 3 of 15 on 3s and committed 19 turnovers.