Eastern Washington Gets Past Matador Roadblock

Being the best team in the Big Sky Conference means winning on the road.

First-place Eastern Washington, moving a step closer to hosting its first Big Sky tournament, showed Cal State Northridge how it’s done Thursday night, escaping with a 70-68 victory over the Matadors before 1,319 at the Matadome.

Brian Heinle missed a game-tying shot with three seconds left for Northridge (15-9, 7-6 in conference play), which lost at home for the first time in 10 games this season. The Matadors were eliminated from the race for first and fell into fifth place.

The Matadors, 3-5 in conference road games, likely will qualify among six teams for the Big Sky tournament--probably at Eastern Washington.

The Eagles (14-9, 11-2), a conference-best 5-2 on the road, maintained a 1 1/2-game lead over second-place Montana.

“They showed why they’re the No. 1 team,” guard Carl Holmes of Northridge said. “Winning big games on the road against good teams.”

Northridge was crisp in the first half, building a 39-32 advantage at intermission. But the Eagles turned the tide with a 10-0 run early in the second half that gave them a 42-41 lead.

Eastern Washington took a 58-51 lead on a jump shot by Chris White with 9:47 to play but Northridge responded with an 11-1 run that included a tying three-point basket by Denny Ogden and eight points by Andre Larry.

Larry, who scored 12 points, did not score again after sinking a layup to give the Matadors a 67-62 lead with 2:36 to play.

Eastern Washington pulled ahead, 68-67, on a three-pointer by Jamal Jones. A free throw by Jeff Parris knotted the score with 1:09 to play.

Two free throws by Jones with 45 seconds to play provided the margin of victory.

From there, Northridge had four scoring opportunities, including a missed three-point shot from the corner by Holmes.

“I really feel we lost in the first four minutes of the second half when they had their 10-0 run,” Coach Bobby Braswell of Northridge said. “We just didn’t have good energy in the second half and we gave Eastern Washington a sense of life. They’re a good team. That’s why they’re in first place.”

Northridge players struggled to identify their team’s problem.

“Right now, we’re not getting it done,” Holmes said. “We came out lax in the second half and we couldn’t make shots. We lost our momentum.”

Heinle, Parris and Markus Carr each had 12 points for Northridge.

“We’re going to look at the [videotape] and try to find out what we’re missing,” Larry said. “It’s just some little aspect that’s killing us. We did a good job in the first half, like coach said. But we took a deep breath and relaxed.”

Eastern Washington registered its sixth consecutive regular-season victory over the Matadors.

Eastern Washington plays Saturday night at third-place Northern Arizona (9-4), which defeated Portland State, 71-57, Thursday for its ninth consecutive victory.

“This team has been a group of road warriors,” Coach Steve Aggers of Eastern Washington said. “They have a road-warrior mentality that permeates down through the ranks. I thought we played with a lot of character tonight.”

Portland State visits Northridge Saturday night.

Notes: The Matadors’ Big Sky game against Weber State next week was switched from Thursday to Wednesday.