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Eastern overcomes rough start to exact revenge on Griz
EWU becomes first team in 30 years to win four straight seasons in Montana
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Jim Meehan
Staff writer

MISSOULA _ Eastern Washington University basketball coach Ray Giacoletti watched the tape of the Jan. 8 EWU-Montana game in his hotel room Saturday afternoon. A few hours later, he saw a disturbing replay in person for the first 6 minutes of the rematch as the Grizzlies zipped to a nine-point lead.

And then the Eagles hit the stop button.

EWU held Montana scoreless for more than 8 minutes, then put on an offensive clinic in the second half to coast to a 71-52 victory in front of a quiet gathering of 3,843 at the Adams Center.

"I watched that tape and I could almost close my eyes (on the sideline) and see those shots dropping again," Giacoletti said. "But we kept it together and we started playing really solid defense."

By doing so, the Eagles gained revenge and a stranglehold on the Big Sky Conference. EWU (12-10, 8-1 Big Sky) has won eight straight since a 79-68 loss to the Grizzlies in Cheney. The Eagles lead the conference by 21/2 games over Idaho State and Northern Arizona.

EWU became the first team to beat Montana in Missoula for four straight years since Weber State ripped off five in a row from 1967-71.

"For one, we wanted to pay them back," said senior guard Alvin Snow, who had nine points, six assists and four steals in the second half. "We wanted to set a record. It's the first time they've lost four straight here to a team in 30 years. And we want to keep winning because we want to host the conference tournament."

EWU has been solid during its winning streak, but even Giacoletti was hard-pressed to recall a better stretch of basketball than the last 34 minutes Saturday.

Defense, offense, bench play, sharing the ball, deadeye shooting, rebounding -- not much was missing.

"When you're in first place, you're going to get everybody's best shot, plus they had confidence coming in because they beat us before," said senior guard Brendon Merritt, who scored a team-high 17 points. "We did a good job of staying in the game. We helped each other on defense and on offense we stayed true to what we run."

EWU opened the second half with a string of layins to build a 23-point lead. Snow had two steals that he converted into layins, weaving through a couple of defenders on one occasion.

EWU shot 68.2 percent in the second half, including 5 of 8 on 3-pointers. Montana heated up in the final 10 minutes, but the issue was decided by then.

"I think we're starting to get where it becomes fun," Giacoletti said. "Brendon deserves a lot of credit. He was solid and disciplined on (Kevin Criswell). And our bigs did a good job giving him a second to recover (by stepping out on screens)."

Montana coach Pat Kennedy wasn't around for the conclusion. He picked up two technical fouls after becoming incensed with the officiating in the final 30 seconds.

"We had two traps on both sides of the floor and there's supposed to be a visible 5-second count," he said. "You don't ever cheat the student-athletes."

Afterward, an assistant coach handed Giacoletti a list of Big Sky scores. He shook his head upon seeing Sacramento State's upset of Northern Arizona and Idaho State's win at Weber State, but his face never changed expression.

"We can't worry about anything else," said Giacoletti, whose team returns home to face Sacramento State on Thursday and NAU on Saturday. "Just stay focused on us."

Eastern Washington 71, Montana 52Eastern Washington (12-10, 8-1)_Nelson 2-4 2-4 6, Snow 5-12 2-2 13, Axton 4-7 5-5 14, Merritt 5-7 3-4 17, Barnard 3-8 2-2 9, Henkel 2-4 2-5 6, Pariseau 2-4 0-0 4, McCulloch 0-0 0-0 0, Butorac 0-0 0-0 0, Smith 1-1 0-2 2, Nicholas 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-47 16-24 71.

Montana (5-16, 2-7)_Horne 7-11 0-0 16, Davis 2-6 1-2 5, Easley 1-2 0-0 2, Mansell 3-6 2-6 11, Criswell 2-10 2-2 7, Lynch 0-0 0-0 0, Booker 1-3 2-2 5, Cummings 1-1 0-1 2, Dlouhy 0-1 0-0 0, Pederson 0-5 0-0 0, Venters 2-4 0-0 4. Totals 19-49 7-13 52.

Halftime_Eastern Washington 31, Montana 21. 3-point goals_Eastern Washington 7-17 (Merritt 4-4, Snow 1-3, Axton 1-3, Barnard 1-5, Henkel 0-1, Pariseau 0-1), Montana 7-22 (Mansell 3-4, Horne 2-5, Booker 1-1, Criswell 1-8, Davis 0-1, Dlouhy 0-1, Pederson 0-2). Rebounds_Eastern Washington 29 (Nelson 7), Montana 26 (Criswell 7). Assists_Eastern Washington 16 (Snow 7), Montana 8 (Mansell 3). Total fouls_Eastern Washington 19, Montana 19. Technicals_Montana coach Kennedy 2. A_3,843.

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