Author photo

By Garth Meyer
Whitman County Gazette 

Shorthanded Eagles fall late to Cougars

Groves brothers lead EWU with career-scoring night

 

Last updated 1/20/2021 at 2pm

Garth Meyer | Whitman County Gazette

Eastern Washington University junior Tanner Groves goes for two against Washington State University last Saturday. Groves had a career high 17 points while also hauling down nine rebounds and dishing out three assists in the Eagles 71-68 season-opening loss.

PULLMAN – Had he touched the ball yet all game?

WSU 7'1" center Volodymyr Markovetskyy, who went in during the second half - hand-raised, arm out - got no reply until Noah Williams fed him in the final minute for an emphatic dunk, giving the Cougars a game-breaking lead over Eastern Washington on a night WSU trailed for most of it, winning 71-68.

Markovetskyy's score came just before EWU's Jacob Davison hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead to one and Eastern got the ball back to work for a last shot with 10 seconds left.

Williams drew a charge on Eastern's Kim Aiken, Jr., with three seconds to go.

After two free throws from Isaac Bonton put the Cougars up by the final score, EWU had a one last shot attempt, from inside half court; contact, no-call, game over.

Williams, a sophomore from Seattle's O'Dea High School, led WSU (2-0) with a career-high 19 points and eight rebounds. Tanner Groves had 17 points and nine rebounds for Eastern (0-1), while his brother Jacob Groves added 16 points and eight rebounds.

The game began all EWU, which led 16-3 at one point before Washington State cut the margin to six at half.

In the second period, Cougar forward Brandton Chatfield, a redshirt freshman on the young team, hit a two-footer underneath for the game's first tie. Another possible tie at 48-48 was nullified by a goal-tending call against WSU - which was playing its 2020-21 home-opener last Saturday amidst no fans, piped-in background din and hip-hop over timeouts.

A dunk by Eastern's Jacob Groves brought an extra layer of recorded sound.

Groves, a sophomore forward from Shadle Park in Spokane, then hit a 10-foot turnaround jumper to put the Eagles back up by four. WSU's Williams later downed a three-pointer from the top of the key to cut the lead to two with under five minutes remaining.

Groves tied it again at 63-63, followed by a Williams drive. Groves then stole a pass, but the Cougars evened the score and Williams made two free throws to put his team up four with 1:07 left.

A runner from Davison followed, cutting the WSU lead back to two before Williams slipped the ball to Markovetskyy for the exclamation point before the end. WSU had a four-point lead with 44 seconds left and held, taking the first game between the two schools since 2012.

After the buzzer, each team's players and coaches - who sat on three-row benches for social-distancing purposes - waved to each other from downcourt.

Eastern Washington played the game without five scholarship players, out due to COVID-19 protocols, including starting guard Ellis Magnuson.

The game was Jacob Groves first start for the Eagles. WSU holds a 56-11 record all-time against Eastern, their last loss to the Eagles was in 1997.

The next game on EWU's recently-revised schedule is Dec. 9 at UNLV, but Eastern is trying to add a non-conference opponent this week after the cancellation of EWU's scheduled home opener on Nov. 30. The Eagles were scheduled to open Big Sky Conference play on Dec. 3 and 5 at Northern Arizona in Flagstaff, but those games have been moved to Dec. 18 and 19.

Eastern will play on back-to-back days with 24 hours between games, but no starting times have been determined as of yet.

Author Bio

Garth Meyer, Reporter

Author photo

Garth Meyer is a reporter and sports writer with Free Press Publishing, based in Colfax, Wash., at the Whitman County Gazette.

 

Reader Comments(0)

 
 

Our Family of Publications Includes:

Cheney Free Press
Ritzville Adams County Journal
Whitman County Gazette
Odessa Record
Franklin Connection
Davenport Times
Spokane Valley News Herald
Colfax Daily Bulletin

Powered by ROAR Online Publication Software from Lions Light Corporation
© Copyright 2024