In the opening round of the Big Sky Conference men’s basketball tournament, the action began at 9:30 a.m. from Idaho Central Arena in Boise.
No. 9 Sacramento State won for the fifth time in seven games, outlasting No. 8 Idaho 57-54 to move into the quarterfinals where they will meet No. 1 Montana State at noon on Thursday. No. 7 Portland State blitzed Idaho State in the second half, posting a 66-52 win over No. 10 Idaho State. PSU will play No. 2 Southern Utah at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday. In the late game, defending tournament champion No. 6 Eastern Washington stayed alive, erasing a nine-point lead with just over five minutes to go to survive an upset bid from No. 11 Northern Arizona. The Eagles play No. 3 Northern Colorado at 8 p.m. on Thursday.
No. 9 Sacramento State 57, No. 8 Idaho 54
Under interim first-year head coach coach Brian Laird, Sacramento State struggled early on, winning just two of the first 14 Big Sky Conference games of the season. But Sac has become one of the hottest teams in the league thanks to the stellar play of Bryce Fowler, an ambidextrous senior who has been filling up the stat sheet.
Sac won for just the third time in their program’s history against Montana in the regular-season finale on Saturday. On Wednesday, the Hornets won their fifth game in seven outings behind 26 points from Fowler, who did that after scoring a career-high 29 points against the Griz.
Fowler has scored at least 20 points nine times in the last month to help lead the surge. He scored 16 in the first half Wednesday and finished 10-of-19 from the floor. He also grabbed eight rebounds.
Cameron Wilbon, a junior college transfer playing in his first Big Sky Tournament, continued his strong play, finishing with 18 points and six rebounds as moved to 11-17 this season.
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No. 7 Portland State 66, No. 10 Idaho State 52
For a half, Idaho State’s deliberate offense and hard-crashing rebounding dragged Portland State down to the Bengals’ pace, putting ISU out to a 30-28 lead at the break.
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But in the second half, Portland State built momentum on the back of devastating full-court defense and surged to a blowout win that advanced the Vikings to the quarterfinals, where they’ll play No. 2 Southern Utah on Thursday.
When the Vikings get rolling, they play with a flood of emotion that feeds their high-flying style, and it was no different Wednesday, whether it was Mikal Starks copying the referee’s signal while sitting on his butt in the paint after drawing a charge, Khalid Thomas gleefully telling an ISU player “too small” after scoring two of his game-high 17 points, or Ezekiel Alley motioning for the crowd to raise the roof after yet another steal and breakaway dunk by Marlon Ruffin.
Idaho State committed 20 turnovers to close a difficult season, Ryan Looney’s third as head coach, with a 7-23 record.
Liam Sorenson led the Bengals with 14 points.
Thomas, a former transfer from Arizona State, hit 3 of 7 3-pointers to lead the Vikings. Alley added 15.
No. 6 Eastern Washington 78, No. 11 Northern Arizona 75
A day after defending tournament champion Idaho State crashed out on the women’s side, Eastern Washington nearly joined the Bengals with an upset loss.
Instead, after winning the tournament last year under Shantay Legans, the Eagles are back in the quarterfinals in David Riley’s first year.
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Carson Towt had 21 points, 16 rebounds and four assists in his final college game and Jalen Cone added 19 points for Northern Arizona, which took a 69-60 lead with 5:38 to play after a 6-0 run.
Eastern Washington immediately responded with two free throws by Steele Venters and a 3 from Angelo Allegri, and Venters’ 3-point play with two minutes left gave the Eagles a 72-71 lead, part of a 9-0 run that gave them a 76-71 with under 30 seconds to go.
Northern Arizona had a chance to tie with a 3 with under three seconds to play, but Eastern Washington deflected the ball out of bounds and the refs determined there was just .1 second left on the clock, not enough time for a catch and a shot, effectively ending the game.
Linton Acliese III had 20 points, Venters 19 and Rylan Bergersen 18 for EWU, which plays No. 3 Northern Colorado on Thursday.
