Weber State University Athletics
Weber State University
at Eastern Washington
Wildcats come up short to EWU in Big Sky opener
1/2/2015 12:20:00 AM | Men's Basketball
A late run by Eastern Washington lifted the Eagles to an 84-78 win over Weber State in the Big Sky Conference opener Thursday afternoon at Reese Court in Cheney, Wash.
The Wildcats held an eight point lead at 71-63 with 5:57 left to play when Eastern Washington closed the game on a 13-3 run to seal the win. The Wildcats failed to score for more than five minutes down the stretch before a late 3-pointer.
Eastern Washington shot 45 percent for the game compared to 41 percent for the Wildcats and EWU outrebounded Weber State 42-28. Both teams shot well from the free throw line as EWU was 16-of-17 and Weber State was 19-of-22. EWU had 40 points in the paint. The Wildcats also knocked down 11 3-pointers.
“We gave ourselves a chance late in the game which is what you want we just came up a couple of rebounds short,” said WSU head coach Randy Rahe. “I was really proud of our effort and our toughness today against a really good basketball team. It really came down to rebounding and that's why we lost the game. We came up short in rebounding and we have to get better at that.”
Weber State was led by freshman Ryan Richardson who had a career-high 22 points. Richardson finished the game 8-of-10 shooting and was 6-of-8 from 3-point land. Richardson had 16 of his points in the first half to keep the Wildcats in the game. His previous career-high was nine points, which he set last week against Bristol.
Three other Wildcats scored in double figures with Jeremy Senglin scoring 17 points. He also pulled down a career-high nine rebounds and had seven assists. Kyndahl Hill tied his career-high with 11 points and Joel Bolomboy added 10 points to go along with seven rebounds and three blocked shots.
Richaud Gittens added nine points for the Wildcats and Chris Golden had eight.
Eastern Washington junior Tyler Harvey scored 39 points and knocked down seven 3-pointers. The 39 points was the most by a player against the Wildcats in nearly five years. Venky Jois added 18 for the Eagles who improved to 10-4 overall, the best record in the Big Sky.
The loss snapped a seven-game winning streak for Weber State against Eastern Washington and dropped Weber State to 5-7 overall. The Wildcats will continue their Big Sky road trip Saturday at new Big Sky member Idaho at 8 p.m. in Moscow, Idaho.
