Stuckey does it all as Eagles rout Pilots

Eastern Washington men’s basketball coach Mike Burns didn’t like what he saw 37 seconds into the second half Saturday night in Portland.

His Eagles threw away the half’s first possession, fouled Pilots forward Sherrard Watson on Portland’s first possession, allowed an offensive rebound when Watson missed the second free throw and gave up a layin by Pilots guard Brian McTear.

So Burns called a timeout, despite being less than a minute out of halftime.

“I just called a timeout to make sure we kept our focus,” Burns said. “I just didn’t think our effort was good coming out of the half, so I was trying to make sure we regained our focus.”

It turns out he needn’t have worried.

Led by sophomore Rodney Stuckey, Eastern went on a 26-8 run the final 8 minutes, 6 seconds of the first half to break the game open and cruise past Portland in an easy 87-66 win in non-conference action at the Chiles Center.

The win was the first for the Eagles (5-4) away from Reese Court.

Stuckey, who came into the week as the country’s third-leading scorer at 27.8 points per game, used his vision and defense to pick the Pilots apart. The guard finished with a game-high eight assists and a team-high seven rebounds to go with his game-high 18 points.

“It was typical,” Burns said. “He gave us 18, eight and seven, he does everything. He’s a great player. Not only can he score, and that’s what he’s known for, but he’s a great passer. He’s very unselfish.”

Stuckey also finished with a game-high five steals as the Eagles forced 16 Pilots turnovers, which they converted into 25 points. As a team, Eastern finished with 11 steals, three in the final 2 minutes of the first half.

“I thought our team defense got turned up (at the end of the half),” Burns said. “That allowed us to create some turnovers and get some runouts.”

The Eagles seemed a step ahead of the Pilots (2-9) all night, netting 16 fast-break points to Portland’s two. Eastern also shot 56 percent from the floor (19 of 34), including 12 of 23 from 3-point range.

Michael Taylor added 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting for Eastern (including 4 of 6 from 3-point range), and Omar Krayem, whose speed gave Portland fits all night, finished with 11 points and five assists. Eight different Eagles had at least seven points, which made for a relatively simple job for Stuckey: find the open man.

“The guys were open.” Stuckey said. “It makes my job so much easier when everyone else is stepping up. We played good team defense tonight and that gave us the victory. I don’t care what (point total) I get, as long as the team plays well.”

Portland, however, didn’t play particularly well. The Pilots were held to 39 percent shooting, going 28 of 71 from the floor. The Pilots had trouble finding open looks all night, and when they did, they either didn’t take them or couldn’t finish.

“Give Eastern Washington credit,” Portland head coach Eric Reveno said. “They did a really good job of pressuring us and taking us out of things and forcing guys to make plays. They did a nice job.”

Kevin Field tied a career high with 14 points, while pulling down nine rebounds for the Pilots and Jamie Jones finished with eight points and a career-high 14 rebounds, nine on the offensive end.