Weber State University Athletics
Weber State University
Eastern Washington
Wildcats Defeat Eastern Washington, 77-69, Sunday Afternoon in Cheney
1/11/2009 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Weber State guard KELLEN McCOY is 5-6. Eastern Washington guard BENNY VALENTINE is 5-7. It's more a likely take an inch than give one for both players. In any case, both played bigger than their listed heights, but in the end it was McCOY's 21 points and career high 12 rebounds, which beat out VALENTINE's 20 points and five assists, as the Wildcats completed a two game road sweep with a 77-69 win at EWU's Reese Court in the Altitude TV Sunday Big Sky Game of the Week.
Weber State led 38-33 at half time, and extended the margin to 16 at 63-47 with 8:50 remaining, only to see the Eagles furiously rally back to within four (69-73) with 24 seconds left before succumbing to a late free throw show by McCoy who was 4-4 in those final seconds.
"That was a tough, hard-fought game," said WSU head coach Randy Rahe. "Even when we were up by that big margin in the second half, I knew they had it in them to rally back because they have done it several times this season. We were fortunate to have made some big baskets and free throws in those final two minutes to keep them at bay."
With KYLE BULLINGER, who scored 22 points on 8-10 shooting in the win at Portland State on Thursday, going 0-5 from the field, the Wildcats got a big boost from NICK HANSEN who splashed in a career high 19 points hitting 7-12 shots overall and 3-7 from the three-point arc.
The ?Cats also got a big night from center STEVE PANOS who scored 17 points and was 9-10 from the free throw line. Panos hadn't had a double figure scoring game since Dec. 22 vs. Texas-Pan American.
"What I really like about this team is when we have a couple of players who have sub-par games, we have a couple of others step up and make plays," said Rahe. "Bullinger and Lillard really struggled today but Nick and Steve stepped up and put the burden on their shoulders."
Eastern Washington out scored the Wildcats by three (51-48) from the field, but the Wildcats were 29-37 from the line to EWU's 18-28. WSU had a three-rebound edge (39-36) in the game despite giving up 11 offensive boards to the Eagles.
The two game road sweep over Portland State (80-66) and Eastern Washington (77-69) gives the Wildcats an overall record of 9-7 and first place all alone atop the Big Sky Conference standings with a 3-0 record. It was WSU's first win in Cheney since the 2004-05 season, and WSU's first road sweep of PSU and EWU since the 2002-03 campaign when the ?Cats swept everyone with a perfect 16-0 regular season mark.
Weber State returns home this week for a pair of Big Sky Conference games beginning on Thursday, January 15 with Montana State and ending on Saturday, January 17 with Montana. Both games at the Dee Events Center tip-off at 7:05 p.m. (MST).
