Weber State basketball: First-place Eastern Washington rallies to top Wildcats 80-78
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- Weber State’s Dillon Jones (2) drives against Eastern Washington’s LeJuan Watts on Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024, in Ogden.
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- Eastern Washington’s Ethan Price (10) and Casey Jones, left, force a miss from Weber State’s Dillon Jones, center, late in the game Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024, in Ogden.
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- Eastern Washington’s Cedric Coward, right, rises for a shot over Weber State’s Dillon Jones (2) on Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024, in Ogden.
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- Weber State’s Blaise Threatt (0) drives past Eastern Washington’s Sebastian Hartmann on Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024, in Ogden.
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- Weber State’s Steven Verplancken Jr. (11) scores past Eastern Washington’s LeJuan Watts (4) on Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024, in Ogden.
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- Weber State’s Blaise Threatt (0) drives past Eastern Washington’s Ellis Magnuson on Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024, in Ogden.
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- Weber State’s Dillon Jones (2) steals the ball against Eastern Washington on Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024, in Ogden.
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- Weber State’s Dillon Jones, left, makes a 3-pointer over Eastern Washington’s Casey Jones on Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024, in Ogden.
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- Weber State’s Dillon Jones (2) jogs down the floor as WSU’s bench celebrates Jones’ made 3-pointer against Eastern Washington on Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024, in Ogden.
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- Eastern Washington’s Cedric Coward (0) posts up against Weber State’s KJ Cunningham on Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024, in Ogden.
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- Weber State’s Alex Tew (20) dunks the ball against Eastern Washington on Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024, in Ogden.
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- Weber State’s Blaise Threatt rises for a layup against Eastern Washington on Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024, in Ogden.
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- Weber State head coach Eric Duft coaches during a game Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024, in Ogden.
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- Weber State’s KJ Cunningham celebrates his 3-pointer against Eastern Washington on Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024, in Ogden.
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- Weber State’s Louie Jordan celebrates his 3-pointer against Eastern Washington on Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024, in Ogden.
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- Weber State’s Dillon Jones runs the offense against Eastern Washington on Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024, in Ogden.
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- Weber State’s Dillon Jones (2) grabs a rebound against Eastern Washington’s LeJuan Watts (4) on Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024, in Ogden.
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- Weber State’s Blaise Threatt (0) shoots against Eastern Washington on Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024, in Ogden.
OGDEN — Weber State men’s basketball got numerous contributions down the roster in the first half, shot the lights out and limited Eastern Washington’s opportunities to build runs.
Dillon Jones scored on three straight WSU possessions (a drive, a floater and a deep 3) to put WSU up 40-27, and a Threatt putback made it 45-32 late in the first half.
But Eastern rallied for a 29-9 run and forced Weber on the comeback trail in the second half.
The Wildcats did it, but couldn’t find the net enough times down the stretch while the Eagles made enough free throws to hold on for an 80-78 win Thursday night at the Dee Events Center.
The decision gave WSU its third straight loss, ended the Wildcats’ eight-game home winning streak, and improved EWU to 22-2 in its last 24 regular-season conference games as the Eagles boosted their Big Sky bonafides yet again.
“Such a well-played game … the margins are razor-thin,” WSU head coach Eric Duft said. “We had a six-game stretch where everything was going our direction. The last three haven’t and we’ll find out a lot about who we are on Saturday night.”
After shooting 8 of 16 from deep in the first half, WSU went 1 of its next 9 before Steven Verplancken Jr. capped a short Wildcats run to put Weber up 69-67 with 5:23 left. Jones drove for a tough three-point play to put WSU ahead 72-71 at the 3:53 mark.
Weber State was then whistled for four fouls over the next minute of game time, including Jones picking up his fourth. The teams traded free-throw trips and WSU tied the game again at 75-75 when Dyson Koehler pump-faked a defender, drove the paint and assisted an Alex Tew dunk with 1:57 left.
Cedric Coward made what was ultimately the game-winning bucket on the ensuing trip the other way. Eastern Washington took the clock down with the crowd roaring and Coward, in the post against Koehler, used his bounce to rise in the paint and toss in a left-handed push shot for a 77-75 lead with 1:25 left.
Jones missed two driving attempts in the final 31 seconds and, after a missed EWU free throw, Coward blocked Jones’ potential game-tying 3-point attempt from the wing with six seconds left.
Verplancken scored 16 points for Weber State (11-7, 2-3 Big Sky). Jones tallied 14 points, 12 rebounds, four assists and two steals. Freshman Viljami Vartiainen added 11 points and five rebounds, and Koehler finished with nine points and six assists.
For Eastern (10-7, 4-0), which has yet to lose to a non-power-conference foe this season, Coward racked up 24 points on 10-of-13 shooting, adding 10 rebounds. Center Ethan Price added 22 points and five assists on 7-of-10 shooting as WSU limited EWU — the 11th best 3-point shooting team in the country against Division-I opponents — to 6 of 14 from the 3-point line but gave up 36 points in the paint.
Weber State built its big first-half leads thanks to contributions from freshman Vartiainen and two players who haven’t recently been in the main rotation, as Louie Jordan took backup center minutes Thursday. Vartiainen, Jordan and Marko Sarenac combined to shoot 5 of 6 from the 3-point line in the first half, with Vartiainen adding a 3-for-3 trip to the line after being fouled on a 3.
Coward finished with a plus-12 in the plus-minus margin, affecting both ends of the court in the second half. Tew was plus-13 for Weber State, going 4 of 4 for eight points, adding four rebounds and a block, in 21 minutes despite foul trouble.
Sharpshooter Jake Kyman was quiet shooting-wise for EWU, but hit a big second-chance 3 and added six assists. Price kept that ball alive for one of only three EWU offensive rebounds and Kyman’s 3 put a cap on the 29-9 run to turn a 45-32 deficit into a 61-54 lead with 13:10 left.
Kyman also made two free throws during that run on a technical foul called on Weber State’s bench after Verplancken appeared to be fouled during a 3-point attempt. LeJuan Watts, who scored 11 points off the EWU bench, was quickly T’d up after a backcourt steal and dunk that briefly slowed WSU’s comeback.
Neither call made much sense on its face and — including a quick, first-half double technical on Tew and EWU backup Dane Erikstrup in which Erikstrup pushed Tew after the whistle — added a disjointed, chaotic feel to an otherwise well-played, high-effort contest (the teams combined for 35 assists to 21 turnovers, for example).
But, Verplancken said, several of WSU’s 10 turnovers and his team’s defense felt outsized in importance. On more than one occasion during WSU’s first-half firestorm, the Eagles got the ball out of the net and raced for a quick bucket to keep the margin manageable.
“A big part of it was transition defense. They got a couple easy 3s, easy dunks,” Verplancken said. “On my turnover, they got a dunk. … We’ve got to mature more as a team and not let them get back in the game. We’ve done that a couple times this season. Sometimes we come out on top and sometimes it’s come back to bite us.”
EWU ultimately outscored WSU 15-7 in transition points.
Weber State returns to the court Saturday hosting Idaho (7-10, 1-3). It’s a 25th-anniversary game for the 1999 team that beat North Carolina in the NCAA Tournament, with Harold Arceneaux, Eddie Gill and others expected to attend.
With two steals Thursday, Jones pulled into a tie with Gill as WSU’s all-time steals leader with 178, so Jones may take the proverbial crown with Gill there to hand it off.
EWU 56, WSU 38
The high-scoring, winning ways of Weber State women’s basketball came to a halt Thursday afternoon in Cheney, Washington, as first-place Eastern Washington ran its win streak to eight games.
Weber State (5-13, 2-3 Big Sky) did itself in with turnovers. The Wildcats committed 16 in the first half and 24 for the game, and Eastern Washington (14-3, 4-0) won the points-off-turnover margin 29-8.
Despite the 16 first-half turnovers, WSU trailed just 26-19 at halftime after briefly leading in the second quarter on a 3-pointer from Taylor Smith.
But the Eagles used an 11-1 run to take a 47-28 lead after three quarters and the game was in hand.
WSU compounded the turnovers with poor shooting, going 13 of 44 from the field.
The freshman Smith led Weber State with 11 points and 10 rebounds, while committing only one turnover. Senior Daryn Hickok added 11 points and four rebounds with six turnovers. Jadyn Matthews added seven points.
Jamie Loera led all scorers with 17 for Eastern Washington, adding seven rebounds and five assists. Jaydia Martin added 15 points and seven rebounds.
