Eastern Washington fends off Weber State comeback bid to reach Big Sky semis 84-79

BOISE — Eastern Washington rediscovered its February grit when it needed it most, holding off pesky Weber State 84-79 Monday night in the quarterfinals of the Big Sky Conference Tournament at Idaho Central Arena.

The Eagles (14-18), which entered the tournament seeded third on the strength of an 8-0 conference record in February, kept its season alive behind a 25-point performance by junior forward Alton Hamilton and hard-nosed team defense.

“I told our team the hardest thing you can do in sports is end a team’s season,” EWU coach Dan Monson said. “And Weber State came out fighting. We were tight too, but we finally settled down and our players stepped it up.”

EWU, which has now won nine of its last 10 games, advances to face seventh-seeded Idaho in the semifinals Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. It also gives the Eagles an opportunity to avenge their only loss in that span — and the only Big Sky team to sweep EWU.

“It’s a personal game for us,” Hamilton said of the rematch with Idaho. “It’s the only team we haven’t beaten in the league. But our team is doing a good job of not making that the priority and just keeping our mind focused on the goal.”

After EWU and Weber State split during the regular season, the Eagles appeared poised to run away with the game by halftime. However, it didn’t look that way early with Weber State leading by as many as seven points.

But then EWU found its rhythm on offense.

With the Wildcats holding a 31-27 lead with just over six minutes left in the half, the EWU went on a 19-1 tear that included four 3-pointers. Johnny Radford, a graduate transfer who played at nearby College of Idaho and finished with 12 points, punctuated the run with a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Eagles a 46-32 lead.

And the Eagles did it with a quiet first half from the team’s leading scorer Isaiah Moses, who only tallied three points on 1-of-6 shooting.

However, Weber State, which shot only 40.1% from the floor, clawed its way back into the game in the second half behind a 58.3% shooting performance.

After a steal and dunk by Nigel Burris, the Wildcats had nearly fought all the way back, cutting their deficit to 68-66 with 5:26 left in the game.

While Weber State managed to edge within two points several more times, it could never retake the lead.

And Moses made sure of it. He reasserted himself down the stretch, making eight of EWU’s final nine points to finish with 22.

“Big players make big plays in big moments,” Moses said. “As a big time player, you want the ball in your hands in those moments. And my teammates set great ball screens to set me up in the second half.”

“In the second half, we doubled Hamilton more and wanted to make Moses make some tough contested shots—and we did that,” Weber State coach Eric Duft said. “And credit to him. He made some shots late in the game that were big.”

Weber State (16-16) was led by Tija Saine with 27 points and Nigel Burris with 14.