Eagles aim true

The team that can’t shoot did, and it came against the toughest team to shoot against.

And it couldn’t have come at a more critical time.

With its best shooting night in a month, Eastern Washington handed Montana State its first Big Sky Conference men’s basketball loss, rolling to a 64-50 win before 2,482 at Reese Court Thursday night.

“They were rolling and playing with a great deal of confidence,” Eagles coach Mike Burns said. “It hasn’t exactly been an easy deal for us on the offensive end of the floor, so for our guys to come out and shoot 50 percent in the first half and play with the intensity they played with was huge.”

The Eagles (7-12 overall, 4-2 in league) shot 46 percent – the best since torching Butler (68 percent) Dec. 30 – after making just 38 percent in the first five conference games.

That the breakout was against the Bobcats (10-9, 5-1) is a good sign, since they were holding opponents to a Big Sky-best, 42-percent shooting, 38 percent in league play.

“In the other three road games we kind of set the tone in the first four or five minutes,” MSU coach Mick Durham said. “Tonight Eastern kind of did that to us, got us back on our heels, and we didn’t much recover. We were ripe for the pickin’, but you’ve got to give Eastern credit for what they did to us tonight.”

Leading the way was Marc Axton, who hit 7 of 16 shots with four 3-pointers and scored 18 points. Since scoring 25 against Butler, Axton has shot 26 percent and averaged 9.2 points, dropping his Big Sky-leading 18.8 average to 15.3, which is fourth best.

“I think I was more flicking it than following through,” Axton said of his slump. “That’s what I tried to focus on that this week. In the preseason it was going in and I probably didn’t focus on my shot as I need to.”

“As we’ve told you before, we knew (Axton) would be back,” Burns said. “When we get him out there stretching the defense it (opens) … a whole plethora of things that aren’t always available to us when he’s no making it.”

The Eagles were solid on defense, limiting the Bobcats to 39-percent shooting. MSU had been averaging 48 percent and 73.4 points in Big Sky games. Eastern also turned 17 Cats turnovers into 20 points.

“I thought defensively our guys came out with an intensity that they needed to,” Burn said. “We weren’t scoring at will for the first four or five minutes, but our defensive energy kind of got us going on the offensive end.”

Axton had eight points in an 18-3 run for a 30-15 lead at the 8:03 of the first half, which ended with the Eagles up 37-28.

Eastern wing Deuce Smith scored the first five points of the second half and Montana State never got the lead under double digits. It peaked at 20 points – a season high – with 4 minutes left.

“The other teams in the Big Sky had experienced these kinds of games on the road. We haven’t yet, so our new guys learned a tough lesson tonight,” Durham said. “I’m not surprised at all. It was a big game for Eastern.”

MSU guards Branden Miller and Ja’Ron Jefferson, and forward Marvin Moss, averaging more than 38 points a game and 10 more in conference, combined for just 26 points.

“Our two guards have been our strength,” Durham said. “Miller and Jefferson, this is one of the toughest nights they’ve had. Neither of them really got in sync.”

Twelve different Eagles scored. Point guard Danny Pariseau contributed six assists for the Eagles.

EWU 64, Montana State 50

Montana State (10-9, 5-1)–Dissly 2-3 22 6, Moss 4-5 2-2 10, Beye 2-6 0-2 4, Miller 2-9 0-0 6, Jefferson 3-9 4-4 10, Durham 1-4 4-5 7, Woodall 0-1 0-4 0, Holmes 2-4 0-0 4, Durr 0-2 0-0 0, Pratt 1-1 1-2 3. Totals 17-44 13-21 50.

Eastern Washington (7-12, 4-2)–Bekkering 3-5 0-0 6, Axton 7-16 0-0 18, Nelson 2-4 1-4 5, Smith 2-8 2-2 7, Pariseau 2-6 0-0 5, Scheffler 1-2 0-0 3, Henkel 1-1 0-0 2, McCulloch 1-1 0-0 2, Wortham 11 0-0 2, Loe 1-1 1-1 3, Beitinger 2-4 1-2 6, Butorac 3-4 0-0 7, Nicholas 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 25-54 5-9 64.

Halftime–Eastern Washington 37, Montana State 28. 3-point goals–Montana State 3-14 (Miller 2-6, Durham 1-3, Dissly 0-1, Jefferson 0-1, Holmes 0-1, Durr 0-2), Eastern Washington 9-23 (Axton 4-11, Beitinger 1-1, Butorac 1-1, Scheffler 1-2, Smith 1-4, Pariseau 1-4). Fouled out–None. Rebounds–Montana State 31 (Dissly 7), Eastern Washington 31 (Axton 6). Assists–Montana State 9 (Jefferson, Durr 2), Eastern Washington 16 (Pariseau 6). Total fouls–Montana State 13, Eastern Washington 20. A–2,482.