Big Sky Finals Recap

Eastern Washington 71, Northern Arizona 59
After falling in the Big Sky Championship Game each of the past three seasons, Eastern Washington advanced to the NCAA Tournament Wednesday night with a 71-59 victory over Northern Arizona. As the final buzzer sounded, Brandon Merritt fired the basketball into the air while hundreds of his classmates stormed the court in celebration of the Eagles’ first ever NCAA Tournament berth.

No. 1-seed Eastern Washington (17-12 overall, 11-3 in Big Sky) advanced to the title game by defeating Weber State 72-53, while No-2 seed Northern Arizona (15-14, 7-7) advanced by knocking off Idaho State 91-72. Two of the Eagles’ three conference losses came in the final weekend, after they had already clinched the No. 1 seed. Eastern Washington will most likely enter the NCAA Tournament as a No. 14 or 15 seed.

Merritt finished with a game-high 22 points while forward Marc Axton contributed nineteen points and seven rebounds. Swingman Alvin Snow, the conference’s top on-the-ball defender, had ten points and eight rebounds. Aaron Bond led the Lumberjacks with twenty points, while Kelly Golob chipped in with fourteen. Eleven blocks between Northern Arizona big men Adrian Hayes (six blocks) and Joakim Kjellbom (five) were not enough to curtail an Eagle offense which collected seventeen offensive boards.