EWU subs help turn back Idaho State
The bar was set pretty low Saturday afternoon, but just high enough for Eastern Washington to trip.
Instead, the Eagles defeated Idaho State, 65-57, in a Big Sky Conference game that may be a benchmark for the rest of the season.
Overcoming every sort of adversity – from point guard Drew Brandon’s back spasms to some controversial officiating to ISU’s slowdown game that almost sucked the life out of Reese Court – the Eagles found a way to get to 2-0 in Big Sky play for the first time in Jim Hayford’s three-plus seasons in Cheney.
“At the end of the day we will take an eight-point win and it feels good to take care of our home court,” Hayford said.
Never leading by more than 10 and clinging to 55-53 lead with less than three minutes left, the Eagles got back-to-back 3-pointers from Felix Von Hofe and some big hustle plays from Venky Jois to finally close out the 3-11 Bengals.
And the benchmark? That came from the bench itself, which contributed 66 minutes and a season-high 30 points, including a team-high 17 from backup forward Bogdan Bliznyuk.
“I was interested to see how this game would play out because we haven’t had an opponent that really tried to hold the ball,” said Hayford, whose team entered the week ranked 19th in the NCAA mid-major poll.
“If we weren’t getting energy off of scoring a lot of points it was going to affect other parts of the game. What I did like about our team is we just kept toughing it out,” Hayford said.
To their credit, so did the Bengals, who stretched their zone defense to hold national scoring leader Tyler Harvey to 16 points – almost 7 points below his average – while finding a way to double-team Jois when he caught the ball low.
The formula worked, for awhile; Chris Hansen scored two of his game-high 23 points to give ISU a 17-9 lead eight minutes into the game. Meanwhile, Harvey didn’t score until nine minutes into the game Brandon was sidelined with back spasms that have plagued him since September; he played just seven minutes.
“That brought some opportunities for the other guys,” said Hayford, who watched Harvey and Jois get untracked enough to lead a 15-0 run punctuated by Bliznyuk’s layup with seven minutes left in the half.
Eastern still led 30-27 at the break despite shooting 4 for 16 from long range and 10 for 26 overall. ISU was no better, hitting just 11 of 29 shots.
Idaho State came out strong in the second half, leading 35-34 on a layin by Jeffrey Solarin that was erased seconds later by a 3-pointer from Harvey. That sparked a 14-4 run that threatened to run the Bengals out of Reese Court, but Hansen’s 3 and Solarin’s layin got them back in it at 50-48.
The Bengals’ rally was fueled by several controversial decisions from the officials, including an out-of-bounds call on Von Hofe that left Hayford livid. A few moments later, Sir Washington was called for a foul as he and Hansen were diving for a loose ball, despite Washington having inside position.
But just as it did in an 84-76 win two nights earlier over Weber State, the Eagles saved their best for last. After Hansen hit his fourth and final try to make it 55-53 and the teams twice traded possessions, Harvey passed to Von Hofe for a 3-pointer.
After an ISU turnover, Jois found himself double-teamed, but passed to Bliznyuk in the left corner. Bliznyuk pump-faked, paused while a defender flew by, and rifled a pass to Von Hofe.
“I knew he’d make it,” said Bliznyuk, who had a pretty good night himself with a 6-for-10 shooting effort, including 3 for 4 from long range.
At the other end, Jois got the last of his career-high seven blocks, stole the ball seconds later and snagged a key rebound after a missed 3-pointer by Bliznyuk. With 63 seconds left, Jois iced the game with two free throws that put EWU ahead 63-53 and guaranteed that ISU would lose for the 12th straight time at Reese Court.
Northern Colorado 62, Montana State 54: Cameron Michael scored 16 points and the Bears (6-7, 1-1 Big Sky) picked up their first road win in seven games, beating the Bobcats (3-11, 0-2) in Bozeman.
Michael Dison scored 19 points for the Bobcats, who dropped their sixth straight game.
Montana 74, North Dakota 63: Martin Breunig scored 23 points and Jordan Gregory added 19 to help the host Grizzlies (5-7, 2-0) roll past UND (5-8, 1-1).
Terrel de Rouen scored 17 points to pace North Dakota.
Sacramento State 90, Southern Utah 75: Mikh McKinney scored 21 points to lead five players in double figures as the Hornets (8-5, 2-0) beat the visiting Thunderbirds (3-10, 0-2).
Northern Arizona 73, Portland State 60: Ako Kaluna led five starters in double figures with 18 to lead the Lumberjacks (6-9, 1-1) past the Vikings (7-5, 1-1) in Portland.