March 11, 2003
Box Score
Ogden, UT --- Eastern Washington's Alvin Snow scored 10 of Eastern Washington's 12 points in a decisive 12-2 run late in the game as the Eagles advanced to the finals of the Big Sky Conference Tournament with a 76-67 win over Idaho State.
The loss ends the Bengals season at 15-14, their most wins since 1993-94, and their first winning season in six years. The game marked ISU's first semifinal Big Sky Tournament game since 1995.
Snow's heroics (he scored 22, including 11-for-11 from the line) foiled a marvelous comeback by Idaho State, who couldn't get shots to fall early in falling behind 29-12, a near exact opposite of the last game the two teams played 10 days ago, where ISU built an early 25-9 lead.
The Bengals started on their comeback trail, going on a 9-2 run of their own to cut the lead to 32-26. The Bengals were down 38-31 at the break, but it could have been worse. With 1:33 left in the half, David Schroeder fouled Brandon Merritt on his desperation three-pointer to beat the shot clock, and Doug Oliver picked up his first technical of the year, but Eastern could only hit three of the five free throws.
The Bengals tied the game at the first media timeout of the second half, and the team's traded the lead until ISU took a five-point lead with 10:24 left on a Scott Henry layup.
Eastern's Brendon Merritt hit three consecutive threes, the last giving the Eagles a 59-56 lead with 7:36 left. ISU tied the game at 60 after a Rashad Kirkalnd layup and Schroeder's 20th point on a short jumper with 4:39 left.
The first of three plays that would haunt ISU followed. Still tied with under four left, Schroeder missed a jumper, but Kirkland snaked in a got the rebound, but missed a point-blank layup.
Then down 64-62 with 2:12 left, Marquis Poole, who had just turned the ball over on a bad pass, stole a ball and led a 3-on-1 break, but his bounce pass was stolen on a great save by Merritt, and Snow counted with a three-point play to put Eastern up 67-62.
After ISU missed a three, Eastern worked the clock down, and Snow, with the shot clock at three, drained a straight away NBA three that rattled around and went in to seal the win with 1:00 left.
The loss dropped ISU to 8-2 on the season when having a 20-point scorer, as Schroeder led with 23. ISU also dropped to 0-12 on the season when trailing with five minutes remaining.
Along with Schroeder, Marquis Poole added 13, and Scott Henry chipped in 10, along with Kirkland. The game was the final one for six ISU seniors; Danny Boticki, Jeremy Brown, Rashad Kirkland, Alvin Brooks, Dion Jackson, and Ray Munyagi.
