Weber State University Athletics
Weber State University
Eastern Washington
'Cats win 20th game with 84-75 win over Eagles
2/12/2012 5:57:00 AM | Men's Basketball
OGDEN, Utah - Weber State had five players in double figures and won their 20th game of the season with an 84-75 win over Eastern Washington Saturday night at the Dee Events Center. The 'Cats improved to 20-4 overall and 12-1 in Big Sky play with the win.
The Wildcats jumped out to a quick 16-4 lead but Eastern Washington responded with a 13-4 run to cut the lead to three with 7:50 to play in the first half. The Eagles cut the lead to two points but the 'Cats responded with an 11-0 run and led 41-30 at halftime.
The Eagles started the second half on a 12-4 run and cut the lead to three with 15:37 to play. Then WSU responded with a 12-4 run and the Eagles were never closer than five points the rest of the way.
"I was really proud of our toughness and attitude tonight," said WSU head coach Randy Rahe. "I knew this was going to be a really tough test for us and it was. I was really pleased with our rebounding and how we hung in really tough."
The Wildcats pulled down 44 rebounds, outrebounding Eastern Washington 44-35. The 'Cats improved to 14-0 when outrebounding their opponent.
The Wildcats had a season-high 32 free throws, finishing the night 32-35 from the line. The 'Cats continue to lead the nation in free throw percentage, now at 81 percent.
Eastern Washington outshot the Wildcats 38 percent to 37 percent from the field and was 13-30 from the three-point line.
Damian Lillard, the nation's leading scorer, led the Wildcats with 22 points. He finished the night 4-13 from the field and was a perfect 12-12 from the free throw line. Lillard also had six rebounds and four assists.
Byron Fulton came off the bench to add a season-high 16 points and also led the 'Cats with nine rebounds. Scott Bamforth finished with 13 points and seven rebounds. Kyle Tresnak had 12 points and seven rebounds and Kyle Bullinger had 10 points and eight rebounds.
Weber State remains in a tie with Montana at 12-1 in league play with three games remaining. The Wildcats will have all three of their conference games on the road while Montana plays all three at home, including the final game of the season Feb. 28 against Weber State.
The Wildcats will play at Montana State Wednesday night before returning home to host UT Arlington in a Sears Bracketbuster game next Saturday, their final home game of the regular season.
