Stuckey leads way for EWU
Rodney Stuckey displayed his Most Valuable Player form and his Eastern Washington teammates played follow the leader.
The sensational freshman scored 38 points and Eastern got key contributions from all its players to produce an 81-75 win over scrappy Portland State in the first round of the Big Sky Conference basketball tournament at Reese Court on Saturday night.
“In a playoff, getting it was a phenomenal performance,” Eastern coach Mike Burns said. “It’s almost unfair to him that we come to expect that.”
PSU’s Juma Kamara, who drew the bulk of the defensive assignment, concurred.
“He’s got an all-around game,” Kamara said. “The hard thing is he’s the main focus in the offense and you’ve got to be aware of him the whole possession. … Good is all I can say.”
A key play came when Stuckey was trapped in the left corner with the shot clock running out when he drilled a 3-point that made it 73-65 with 2:46 left.
“It was just reaction, time was running out,” Stuckey said after the second-highest individual total in tournament history. “I just come out and play, hit my open shots and be aggressive.”
Viking coach Ken Bone said, “I think Stuckey’s 3 in the deep corner made the difference. That was a real deflating moment for our team.”
Or, as Burns said, “In comparisons to the Cascades, that was Mount Everest.”
But it wouldn’t be an Eastern playoff game without going down to the wire and this one put a season-high crowd of 3,159 in panic mode. PSU (12-16) didn’t fold.
EWU had a nine-point lead with just under nine minutes remaining before it committed eight turnovers in 12 possessions as PSU closed to within 77-75 with 15.8 seconds left.
But four free throws from freshmen Matt Penoncello and Stuckey sealed the win.
The Eagles move on the BSC semifinals in Flagstaff, Ariz., where they’ll face Montana on Tuesday at 5 p.m.
In the other opening round game, Sacramento State won 71-70 at Montana State. The Hornets meet league champion Northern Arizona.
The Eagles shot 63.6 percent for the game, including 9 of 15 3-pointers, made 16 of 21 free throws, outrebounded PSU, but had 18 turnovers that led to 32 PSU points nearly did them in.
“Give Portland State some credit,” Burns said. “They were extremely scrappy. Some of it was our guys saw things that were there and they wanted so bad to make a play. There were off by a smidgen.”
The Eagles weren’t flawless in the first half but it almost seemed as if they were in building a 46-32 lead.
From the time Penoncello tipped in a Stuckey miss on the first shot of the game the Eagles were flying.
With Stuckey’s seven points and back-to-back 3s from Deuce Smith and Paul Butorac the Eagles quickly opened an eight-point lead without missing another shot.
PSU worked its way back to a one-point deficit at 22-21 but the Eags, with 3s from Jake Beitinger, Neal Zumwalt and Stuckey scored 10 straight.
The Eagles shot 60.7 percent and had assists on 12 of 17 baskets, five by Smith. They also hit 5 of 6 free throws and 7 of 11 3-pointers by five different players. Stuckey had 21 points on 8-for-12 shooting but seven other players scored.
PSU opened the second half with an 11-2 run to get within five in the game they never led as Stuckey, Smith and Paul Butorac made big plays before the stretch of turnovers.
Butorac had 13 points, Smith eight with six rebounds and six assists, both game highs, and Beitinger had nine off the bench.
Center Anthony Washington hit all seven of his shots and scored 18 points to lead the Vikings but was limited to 26 minutes because of foul trouble. Kamara had 16 points.
Eastern Washington 81, Portland St. 75
Portland St. (12-16) – Kamara 5-15 2-2 16, Hollist 2-6 0-0 4, Washington 7-7 4-5 18, Sommer 3-6 2-2 9, Schroeder 4-8 1-2 12, Hafford 0-3 0-0 0, Neeley 2-3 0-0 4, Locke 1-3 0-0 2, Sconiers 2-2 2-6 6, Mara 2-3 0-0 4. Totals 28-56 11-17 75.
Eastern Washington (15-14) – Penoncello 2-4 2-2 6, Risper 1-1 1-2 3, Butorac 4-6 3-4 13, Stuckey 13-20 8-10 38, Smith 3-4 1-1 8, Humphrey 0-0 0-0 0, Zumwalt 1-3 0-0 3, Beitinger 4-5 0-0 9, Williams 0-1 1-2 1. Totals 28-44 16-21 81.
Halftime–Eastern Washington 46, Portland St. 32. 3-point goals–Portland St. 8-21 (Kamara 4-8, Schroeder 3-5, Sommer 1-2, Hafford 0-2, Hollist 0-4), Eastern Washington 9-15 (Stuckey 4-7, Butorac 2-2, Smith 1-1, Zumwalt 1-2, Beitinger 1-2, Penoncello 0-1). Fouled out–None. Rebounds–Portland St. 21 (Washington, Mara 3), Eastern Washington 28 (Smith 6). Assists–Portland St. 16 (Sommer 8), Eastern Washington 17 (Smith 7). Total fouls–Portland St. 21, Eastern Washington 16. A–3,159
Sacramento St. 71, Montana St. 70
DaShawn Freeman scored 12 points, including four free throws in the final 11 seconds, to lift Sacramento State to the victory over Montana State in Bozeman, Mont., in the opening round of the Big Sky Conference tournament.
Freeman helped end a five-game losing streak for the Hornets (15-14). Montana State ended the season at 15-15.