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Eastern escapes MSU
Eagles stave off second-half comeback to beat Bobcats
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BOZEMAN, Mont. _ Marc Axton's straightaway 3-pointer with 40.4 seconds left Thursday night provided the big spark in Eastern Washington's 64-61 Big Sky Conference men's basketball win at Montana State's Worthington Arena.

Brendon Merritt and Alvin Snow each hit a pair of free throws in the final seconds to preserve EWU's seventh consecutive win.

EWU (11-10, 7-1) leads the conference by 11/2 games over Northern Arizona. Eastern will play Saturday at Montana, which defeated the Eagles 79-68 last month.

The Bobcats (11-10, 3-5) led 59-57 after Calvin Ento's layup with 49.3 seconds left.

The Eagles took the lead for good on the long-range shot by Axton, the reigning conference player of the week. Merritt hit his free throws with 17.1 seconds to go, and Snow added a pair with 6.8 seconds left, for a 64-59 lead.

Frank Brown's last-second layup allowed the Bobcats to cut the final deficit to three.

MSU's Jason Erickson led all players with 27 points, but he missed a pair of 3-point attempts in the final 25 seconds. Erickson made five 3-pointers, but didn't score in the game's final 4 minutes.

Erickson gave the Bobcats their first lead, 52-51, with a layin with 4:20 left. Matt Nelson, who led EWU with 16 points, had a layup on the ensuing possession to seize back the advantage. Nelson, a true freshman, finished 7 of 10 from the field.

The Bobcats led 56-53 with 1:48 left, after Brown's feed to Ento. Merritt tied the game at 57 on a short jumper with 1:14 to go.

EWU's fourth consecutive road win tested coach Ray Giacoletti.

EWU blew a 15-point, second-half lead and misfired on five straight free throws down the stretch.

Four consecutive EWU turnovers helped MSU whittle away at the deficit with an 11-0 run.

"Take nothing away from Montana State," Giacoletti said. "They crawled back in it and showed a lot of courage.'

"We played well the first half and did not play real well in the second half. Considering the position we were in with 2 minutes to go, I feel very fortunate to get out of here with a win."

The Eagles didn't figure to be in jeopardy after dashing to an 11-0 lead during the first 61/2 minutes. A later run of 9-0 put EWU in charge, 24-11.

Josh Barnard hit three 3-pointers and scored 13 points for the Eagles. Axton added 11 points and five rebounds.

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