Sports

On top at the break
Eagles down Weber, end first round in first place
Related stories

Jim Meehan
Staff writer

Eastern Washington ended the first half of the Big Sky Conference men's basketball season with a big second half.

The Eagles got off the deck a couple times -- literally and figuratively -- to post an entertaining 73-67 victory over Weber State before a season-high crowd of 3,083 Saturday at Reese Court.

EWU (10-10, 6-1) strengthened its grip on first place by tripping up Weber State, which beat the Eagles three times a year ago, including in the Big Sky title game. The Wildcats dropped to 10-10, 3-4.

When the Eagles retreated to their locker room, coach Ray Giacoletti put a couple of numbers up on the greaseboard: 6-1 and 0-0.

The former signifies EWU's record midway through the conference. The latter is EWU's mark in the second half. In other words, heck of a win, fellas, but much work remains. Northern Arizona, at 5-2, is EWU's closest pursuer.

"That was a great college basketball game," Giacoletti said. "It wasn't always pretty, but sometimes you have to do tough stuff out there."

Indeed, this one was worth savoring. It was a matchup of the teams picked in preseason to finish one-two and it included a dandy individual battle between EWU's Marc Axton and WSU's Slobodan Ocokoljic.

And it didn't disappoint. There were 15 lead changes, seven in the second half. Weber State carved out a 56-52 lead with 7:41 to play with a 9-0 run.

Trailing 56-54, EWU senior guard Brendon Merritt was shaken up on a hard fall under the basket. His shoulder popped out of joint for the second time in a week and he bruised his hip to boot.

"I'm skinny, so my bones stick out," Merritt said. "The difference is my shoulder popped back into place quicker than it did (against Portland State last Saturday)."

Merritt missed less than 3 minutes before returning. While he was out, Axton had a 3-point play to give EWU a 58-56 lead. But Ocokoljic, who finished with 21 points, connected on a tough 8-footer over Axton and Weber State was back on top 60-58 with 2:50 left.

EWU's answer was decisive. Alvin Snow scored on a backdoor cut and Merritt was fouled on another madcap drive to the basket. He hit both foul shots and EWU had the lead for good, 62-60, with 1:30 left.

EWU's Matt Nelson retrieved a Weber State miss and was fouled. He made a pair of free throws.

"That probably wasn't a smart thing to do because all we needed to do was get a stop at the other end," Weber State coach Joe Cravens said. "Now, we're sending them to the line."

The Eagles made 11 of 12 free throws -- Merritt and Danny Pariseau each were 4 of 4 -- in the final 90 seconds.

"That was a fun one," said Axton, who scored a career-high 25 points and led EWU with eight rebounds. "We played as a team, just like Thursday (in a win over Idaho State). We picked it up on defense and boxed out down the stretch. We've been in situations like that before at NAU and we just kept our composure."

The Eagles became the first Big Sky team to outboard Weber State. EWU won the glass, 30-28, seven of those came on the offensive end in the first half to keep the Eagles within striking distance.

The Wildcats led by as many as 10 in the first half before EWU trimmed the gap to 34-30 with a late run.

Weber State silenced the crowd with a 15-4 run, keyed in part by 10 points by backups Troy Goodell, Ryan Davis, Pat Danley and Brett Cox. Those four combined for 12 first-half points on 4-of-4 shooting, including 3 of 3 on 3-pointers. Eagles' backups went scoreless.

The crowd was back in full throat after official Charlie Range hit Giacoletti with a technical for his mild protest of "Get them off us" when Snow was bumped on a drive.

Lance Allred missed both foul shots and EWU pulled within four at half. EWU carried the momentum into the second half and the crowd was on its feet for the last few minutes.

"To be honest, I thought whoever won this game would probably win the league," Cravens said. "If we went home one game back with seven to go, we'd be in great shape. I think they're going to be hard to catch but I can't worry that much down the road."

Neither can EWU, which visits Montana State on Thursday and Montana on Saturday.

"We're definitely in good position," Axton said. "We've been battling and we're looking forward to the second half and staying strong."

EWU 73, Weber State 67Weber State (10-10, 3-4)_Sparrow 3-7 0-0 7, Ocokoljic 8-18 3-3 21, Allred 3-6 5-7 11, Jenkins 0-0 0-0 0, Hamilton 5-11 1- 12, Jackson 0-0 0-0 0, Cox 1-1 0-0 3, Goodell 1-2 2-2 5, Danley 1-3 1-2 3, Davis 2-2 0-0 5. Totals 24-50 12-15 67.

Eastern Washington (10-10, 6-1)_Barnard 1-5 0-0 3, Axton 10-16 2-3 25, Nelson 2-5 2-2 6, Merritt 5-7 4-4 16, Snow 5-13 1-4 12, Pariseau 0-1 4-4 4, McCulloch 2-4 0-0 4, Butorac 1-1 0-0 2, Smith 0-2 1-2 1. Totals 26-54 14-19 73.

Halftime_Weber State 34, Eastern Washington 30. 3-point goals_Weber State 7-16 (Ocokoljic 2-5, Cox 1-1, Davis 1-1, Sparrow 1-2, Goodell 1-2, Hamilton 1-5), Eastern Washington 7-16 (Axton 3-5, Merritt 2-3, Barnard 1-3, Snow 1-4, Pariseau 0-1). Fouled out_Sparrow, Ocokoljic. Rebounds_Weber State 28 (Ocokoljic 6), Eastern Washington 30 (Axton 8). Assists_Weber State 9 (Ocokoljic 4), Eastern Washington 12 (Barnard, Axton 3). Total fouls_Weber State 23, Eastern Washington 18. Technicals_Eastern Washington bench. A_3,083.

Back to Top