The Eagles led 24-17 at one point in the first half, and it looked like it could be their night. Tyler Harvey started the game off hot, and he was getting help. Venky Jois got Georgetown center Joshua Smith into early foul trouble, and guys like Parker Kelly, Felix Van Hofe, and Bogdan Bliznyuk were all hitting threes.
Then, Georgetown scored 41 of the next 54 points, as EWU just had no answers on either end. It's oversimplifying to say this, but things seemed to go south for the Eagles after the no-call on this play -
Yeah, umm this is a cheap shot , Jabril. https://t.co/4evuOUfR6F
— Troy Machir (@TroyMachir) March 20, 2015
Even after review, the refs somehow decided this was not worthy of any type of technical foul (a flagrant foul could not have been called because technically it was a dead ball foul). In a sense, EWU literally took a punch, but figuratively couldn't throw one back.
For a stretch at the end of the first half and beginning of the second half, Georgetown seemed like they couldn't miss. The Hoyas drained 11 threes, effectively doing to EWU what the Eagles what they hoped to do to Georgetown. When the Hoyas did miss, they were all over the offensive glass.
The Eagles could have easily given up after the big GTown run, as the score was 65-42 at one point. However, EWU kept battling the rest of the way, making the final score 84-74. A spark was Sir Washington, who surprisingly entered the game and did some good things. More than the box score, he looked like he brought some energy back to the Eagles.
The guy that impressed me the most was Venky Jois, who was all over the floor on both ends. He finished with 19 points, 8 rebounds, and 2 blocks, but even more than that, he gave a full effort at all times. If you only watched him, you wouldn't know the score of the game, and that's a true complement.
Tyler Harvey finished with 27 points, but it was a tough night. He was guarded often by Jabril Trawick (who, by the way, is a very easy guy to not like), and with Trawick's size, Harvey had trouble getting separation for his shot.
In the end, the Eagles finish the season 26-9, and they should have a great chance of playing NCAA Tournament basketball again next year. They lose two seniors (one of them being Drew Brandon, an important guy), but they arguably bring back their three most talented guys (Harvey, Jois, and Bogdan Bliznyuk). It was a great season for the Eagles, and it ended with a night in the Big Dance where they didn't have their best day, but they never stopped fighting.
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Jois played a better role in this match up, the energy guy getting most of his points off put backs and deep post ups, than he did for the conclusion of the Big Sky season. Please tell me, Coach Hayford, this is how we deploy him next year.
ReplyDeleteSeparately, Harvey had a rough time getting some separation, but still put together 27 points on 20 shots. For a guy who looked like he had a rough night, he shot 50% from deep. If Sir Washington can replicate 75-80% of Drew Brandon's stats, and everyone else keeps improving, I don't know how to call anyone but EWU the conference favorite and a first round threat next year.
Looked like Georgetown turned back the clock to the 80's with that takedown of Harvey
ReplyDeleteIt was not quite as bad as the classic game between Princeton coached by the legendary Pete Carrill and Gatown with Thomphon St where the over 20 pt underdog Tigers took Gatwn to the wire, The key play was when a Princeton player ended up in row 3 with a gash on his head and no call was made. This is just a case of money getting in the way of fairness. I can not say how strongly I feel that the NCAA makes sure the good ol boys, get good draws and a few calls. Witness the fucking of SMU on an equally ridiculous goaltending call.
ReplyDeleteAll I will say is, WAY to FIGHT Eagles!! And as a Weber St. Wildcat fan, hope the Utes pound the big brute Hoyas on Sat.
ReplyDeleteRe: the foul on Harvey....that's just the Big East being the Big East. Blah, blah, blah....street....blah, blah, blah....tough....blah, blah, blah...that's how we do it on the East Coast....blah, blah, blah. It was a punk play on Jabril's part. Here's hoping the Utes take 'em down in the next round. -MTJack
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