Just bold enough
Offensive sensitivity has plagued Eastern Washington University’s men’s basketball team throughout much of the season.
When the shots don’t drop for the Eagles, their heads do – particularly on the defensive end of the court.
But in Saturday night’s Big Sky Conference opener against Portland State, Eastern was able to defend its way through long scoring droughts near of the end of both halves and turn back the Vikings 58-57 on a clutch bucket by Kellen Williams with just 5 seconds left in the game.
Williams’ difficult 8-foot bank shot over a pair of PSU defenders not only sent a Reese Court crowd of 1,415 home happy, but also instilled a massive amount of confidence in the Eagles (6-8, 1-0 Big Sky) heading into a week-long holiday layoff.
“That’s just a hell of a win,” first-year EWU coach Kirk Earlywine said after watching his team survive a 2-for-16 shooting night by junior point guard Adris DeLeon and upset a Portland State team (7-6, 0-1) that was the preseason favorite of many to win the Big Sky regular-season title.
“We talked before about our team being offensive sensitive, and I thought tonight for the first time we were not offensive sensitive,” Earlywine added. “When things were going bad for us on the offensive end and we had that scoring drought, we knuckled down and became tougher and more resolute on the defensive and continued to guard.
“And that allowed us to stay in the game despite the drought.”
Prior to Williams’ game-winning basket, Eastern had missed nine consecutive field-goal attempts and had gone 6 1/2 minutes without scoring. But the Eagles had also held the Vikings to a mere four free throws over that span and forced four turnovers to give themselves a chance to win it at the end.
Williams, a 6-foot-6 senior forward who finished with a game-high 19 points and 11 rebounds, made sure they didn’t blow it by converting an isolation play Earlywine had drawn up during a timeout just 10 seconds earlier.
“I drew up an ‘iso’ for him and he did what a fifth-year senior is supposed to do,” Earlywine said of Williams, who posted his sixth double-double of the season. “There was a bit of contact on the drive, but there’s always going to be contact in Division I, and he didn’t bail out against it.
“He got himself on balance, took a man’s shot and made it go in.”
Williams said he was smiling coming out the huddle after hearing his number called.
“The game was on my shoulders – either score and we win, or miss and we lose,” he said. “I saw the two guys coming at me, so all I wanted to do was make sure I got it up high enough on the backboard. My (goal) was to take one bounce and jump and use my athletic ability.”
PSU had one last chance to win the game following Williams’ late bucket, but Andre Murray’s 30-foot desperation shot at the buzzer fell well short.
“This is just a great win for our confidence,” said Williams, who played all 40 minutes of the game. “We know they were one of the favorites in our league, and everyone picked us to finish eighth or last. I think we made a big-time statement tonight.”
The Eagles made it with DeLeon having an off-night on offense and both of their big men, Brandon Moore and Marcus Brunell, fighting game-long foul problems.
DeLeon still managed to finish with 11 points and four assists, however, and Moore added eight points and three rebounds despite playing only 18 minutes.
PSU got 14 points each from Delonte Huff and Murray, and also did a splendid defensive job, taking Eastern out of its offense with aggressive double teams off on-ball screens near the top of the key. But the Vikings converted only 7 of 19 free-throw tries.
“Obviously, that’s what hurt us more than anything else,” Portland State coach Ken Bone said. “You can’t shoot whatever percent we shot (36.8) and expect to win the game. If you win shooting like that, you luck out.”
EWU will take the week off before entertaining UC Santa Barbara on Saturday in a non-conference game that tips off at 7:05 p.m. at Reese Court.
EWU 58, Portland St. 57
Portland State (7-6)—Huff 7-10 2-4 16, Mara 0-0 1-2 1, Morrison 2-5 1-3 5, Dominguez 3-7 0-0 7, Lucas 1-6 0-4 2, Thomas 2-2 0-1 4, Murray 5-10 1-2 15, Polis 1-3 2-2 5, Coston 0-0 0-0 0, Hammond 0-1 0-0 0, Moore 1-5 0-1 2, Teifenthaler 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-49 7-19 57.
Eastern Washington (6-8)—Hinton 2-5 0-0 5, Williams 6-9 4-6 19, Brunell 0-1 0-0 0, DeLeon 2-16 7-9 11, Stanojevic 3-7 0-1 7, Gibson 2-6 1-1 6, Gross 0-1 2-2 2, Loofburrow 0-0 0-0 0, Moore 4-5 0-1 8. Totals 19-50 14-20 58.
Halftime—Portland State 32, Eastern Washington 32. 3-point goals—Portland State 6-14 (Murray 4-7, Dominguez 1-2, Polis 1-3, Lucas 0-2), Eastern Washington 6-25 (Williams 3-4, Hinton 1-3, Gibson 1-4, Stanojevic 1-5, Gross 0-1, DeLeon 0-8). Fouled out—None. Rebounds—Portland State 36 (Huff 10), Eastern Washington 32 (Williams 11). Assists—Portland State 14 (Dominguez, Thomas 3), Eastern Washington 11 (DeLeon 4). Total fouls—Portland State 20, Eastern Washington 20. A—1,415.