National Basketball Association
Eastern Washington 69, Montana 65
When: 9:00 PM ET, Saturday, March 14, 2015
Where: Dahlberg Arena, Missoula, Montana
Officials:
# Wilson Holland, # Brett Nansel, # Gregory Nixon
Attendance:
7026
By SportsDirect Inc.
Eastern Washington 69, Montana 65: Tyler Harvey scored 18 points and the visiting Eagles finished the game on a 21-6 run to win the Big Sky Tournament title and earn their first NCAA bid since 2004.
Drew Brandon added 16 points and seven rebounds for Eastern Washington, which trailed 59-48 with 6:11 to play before rallying for its fifth straight win and second Big Sky title. Bogdan Bliznyuk added 13 points off the bench for the Eagles (26-8).
Marcus Breunig led Montana (20-12) with 23 points and 17 rebounds but the Grizzlies, which won a tiebreaker enabling them to host the conference tournament, had their four-game winning streak snapped. Michael Weisner added a career-high 18 points, including 13 straight Montana points in a stretch that vaulted the Grizzlies from a tie into a 55-48 lead midway through the second half.
But Harvey, who leads the nation in scoring at 23.1 points a game, scored eight points in the game-changing run which began on a putback by Venky Jois that cut the deficit to 59-50. Trailing 61-52 with 4:13 to go, Jois scored again from down low and Harvey followed with a long 3-pointer in front of the Eastern Washington bench and the Eagles scored 10 straight points to take the lead with 2:09 left.
Jordan Gregory answered on a driving layup to put Montana, which has won nine Big Sky titles, back up 63-62, but Brandon's jumper on the next possession gave Eastern Washington the lead for good with 1:35 left and Harvey converted a three-point play on the next trip to seal it. Breunig, a transfer from Washington, had 13 points at the half and the Grizzlies took a 30-29 lead into intermission.
Top Game Performances
| Eastern Washington |
|
Montana |
|
Tyler Harvey 18 |
Scoring |
Martin Breunig 23 |
|
Drew Brandon 2 |
Assists |
Mario Dunn Jr. 3 |
|
Drew Brandon 7 |
Rebounds |
Martin Breunig 17 |
|
Tyler Harvey 5 |
Free Throws Made |
Martin Breunig 7 |
|
Tyler Harvey 4 |
Steals |
Riley Bradshaw 2 |
|
Bogdan Bliznyuk 1 |
Blocks |
Martin Breunig 2 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
| Eastern Washington
|
69 |
44.4 |
4-18 |
17-23 |
6 |
28 |
3 |
7 |
13 |
| Montana
|
65 |
43.4 |
4-16 |
15-18 |
10 |
32 |
4 |
9 |
13 |
For more information, contact us