Portland Pilots @ Eastern Washington Eagles - DustinT's Blog

DustinT's Blog

Portland Pilots @ Eastern Washington Eagles

Posted on November 17, 2009 at 02:35 AM.

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Poor shooting, rebounding lead to season opener loss

Nik Ravioli had 16 points and nine assists and Luke Skim added a double double helping the University of Portland Pilots to a season opening victory over Eastern Washington.

Portland out rebounded Eastern 37-24 and was one of the key stats in Portland�s victory. Not only did the have a +13 margin in rebounds, they shot 53 percent from the three-point line.

"I told our players that we played okay, but okay is not good enough," said Eastern head coach Kirk Earlywine. "We can't get out rebounded by double digits and allow a team to shoot over 50 percent from the three-point line and win. For days we have been hammering our guys that those were the two keys to the game. We needed to be even or win the rebound battle and not give up threes.�

Benny Valentine led the Eagles in scoring despite coming off the bench with 20 points.

When asked about coming off the bench, Valentine had no problem with it. �Everybody wants to start the game, but you got to do what�s best for the team, you got to play hard and bring what you got to the table,� said Valentine. �I don�t know why [I came off the bench], but at the same time I didn�t question it.�

The Eagles had the same scoring problem they had last year, shooting only 4 of 19 from the field in the first half, despite only trailing 19-25. They shot 32 percent for the game.

�I liked the shots [we took], I thought they were good shots, we just didn�t make them,� said Earlywine. �It was just one of those nights the ball didn�t go into the basket,� added Valentine.

Portland guard T.J. Campbell went 4 for 6 beyond the arc, three of them during a big first half run.

�Campbell shot 53 percent for the arc a year ago, he is a terrific shooter,� said Earlywine.

"Credit Portland, they are good," Earlywine said. "They are old and they are experienced, and I thought that really showed, especially early in the game.� �There guys are old strong physical, they play right.�

Even though Eastern came out on the wrong side of the score board, a positive attitude was kept in the locker room.

�We stuck around, we grinded it out and made it a game at the end,� said Valentine. �One of these nights you shoot that bad you expect to get blown out and that�s one thing we didn�t let happen.�
�For the most part we got good shots, and didn�t take as many bad shots as we did against [MSU] Billing,� said Earlywine. �Our physical competitiveness was good and we only turned the ball over ten times.�

Eastern will play the Washington State Cougars in Pullman Nov. 16. Their next game at home ins Reese Court will be against Whitman Missionaries Nov. 17 at 7:05 p.m.