there that did it. There's any number of things we can look at, but it just wasn't our night." The Eagles got a huge buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Josh Barnard at the end of regulation to knot the score at 71-71 and forced double overtime when Danny Pariseau hit a runner down the right side with 18 seconds left.
But Pariseau's magic ran out as his desperation drive and shot with a second left in the game rolled in and out of the hoop, giving ISU the win and a home opener in the conference tournament while handing the Eagles a second consecutive loss as they enter a weeklong preparation period.
Perhaps not coincidentally, it was a former Eagle that hurt the Big Sky champs the most.
ISU point guard Marquis Poole, who spent his freshman season at Eastern before transferring to a junior college, scored 31 points and hit the game-winning shot with 5.2 seconds left on the clock.
"They were the aggressors from the start," Giocoletti said. "They had us down and we kept coming back on them. But when you fight back so many times, eventually you are going to run out of gas."
The Eagles were led by Alvin Snow's 25 points while Marc Axton tossed in 15. But it was Pariseau who came up clutch time and again in the extra periods.
The sophomore from Spokane gave EWU a 79-76 lead in the first overtime with a 3-pointer and scored four of the Eagles' six points in the second extra period to keep his team close. But with Poole guarding him closely on the final drive, his shot rimmed out, dropping EWU to 15-12 overall and 11-3 in conference.
The Bengals improve to 12-17 and 7-7. ISU finishes tied for second and will officially finish tied for second in the conference, but gets the third seed and will host Montana next Saturday.
Idaho State 91, EWU 90 (OT)Eastern Washington (15-12, 11-3)_Axton 5-14 5-7 15, Snow 9-16 4-4 25, Nelson 3-8 2-3 8, Merritt 4-13 5-6 14, Pariseau 5-12 2-2 14, Henkel 0-1 0-0 0, Bekkering 0-1 0-0 0, McCulloch 0-0 0-0 0, Barnard 1-6 1-2 4, Butorac 3-4 3-3 9, G.Smith 0-0 1-2 1. Totals 30-75 23-29 90.
Idaho State (12-17, 7-7)_Henry 6-9 3-4 15, Bradley 0-3 2-2 2, J.Smith 3-9 0-0 6, Gardner 2-6 5-8 11, Poole 11-20 9-9 31, Lewis 6-10 0-0 18, Thomas 0-1 2-2 2, Rede 0-1 2-4 2, Key 0-0 0-0 0, D'Amore 1-4 2-2 4. Totals 29-63 25-31 91.
Halftime_Idaho State 37, Eastern Washington 31. Regulation_Eastern Washington 71, Idaho State 71. 3-point goals_Eastern Washington 7-24 (Snow 3-9, Pariseau 2-3, Merritt 1-4, Barnard 1-5, Axton 0-3), Idaho State 8-21 (Lewis 6-10, Gardner 2-6, Poole 0-1, Bradley 0-2, D'Amore 0-2). Fouled out_Snow, Nelson. Rebounds_Eastern Washington 46 (Axton 10), Idaho State 36 (Henry 11). Assists_Eastern Washington 16 (Merritt, Pariseau 5), Idaho State 18 (Poole 8). Total fouls_Eastern Washington 24, Idaho State 23. A_2,554.
