Eagles shorthanded

PULLMAN – Had he touched the ball yet all game?

WSU 7’1” center Volodymyr Markovetskyy, who went in in the second half -- hand-raised, arm out -- got no reply until Noah Williams fed him in the final minute for an emphatic dunk, giving the Cougars a game-breaking lead over Eastern Washington on a night WSU trailed for ¾ of it, winning 71-68.

Markovetskyy’s score came just before EWU’s Jacob Davison hit a three-pointer to cut the lead back to one and Eastern got the ball once more to work for a last shot with 10 seconds left.

Williams drew a charge on Eastern’s Kim Aiken, Jr., with three seconds to go.

After two free throws from Isaac Bonton put the Cougars up by the final score, EWU had a one last shot attempt, from inside half court; contact, no-call, game over.

Williams, a sophomore from Seattle’s O’Dea High School, led WSU (2-0) with a career-high 19 points and eight rebounds. Tanner Groves posted 17 points and nine rebounds for Eastern (0-1), while his brother Jacob Groves had 16 points and eight rebounds.

The game began all EWU, which led 16-3 at one point before WSU cut it to six points at half.

In the second period, Washington State forward Brandton Chatfield, a redshirt freshman on the young team, hit a two-footer underneath for the game’s first tie. Another possible tie at 48-48 was nullified by a goal-tending call against WSU – which was playing its 2020-21 home-opener last Saturday amidst no fans, piped-in background din and nondescript hip-hop over timeouts.

A dunk by Eastern’s Jacob Groves brought an extra layer of recorded sound.

Groves, a sophomore forward from Shadle Park in Spokane, then hit a 10-foot turnaround jump shot to put the Eagles back up by four. WSU’s Williams later downed a three-pointer from the top of the key to cut the lead to two with under five minutes remaining.

Groves tied it again at 63-63, followed by a Williams drive. Groves then stole a pass, but the Cougars evened the score and Williams made two free throws to put his team up four with 1:07 left.

A runner from Davison followed, cutting the WSU lead back to two before Williams slipped the ball to Markovetskyy for the exclamation point before the end. The Cougars had a four-point lead with 44 seconds left and held, taking the first game between the two schools since 2012.

After the buzzer, each team’s players and coaches – who sat on three-row benches for social-distancing purposes – waved to each other from downcourt.

Eastern Washington played the game without five scholarship players, out due to COVID-19 protocols, including starting guard Ellis Magnuson.

The game was Jacob Groves first start for the Eagles.

Markovetskyy, a sophomore, comes to Pullman from Truskavets, Ukraine.

WSU holds a 56-11 record all-time against Eastern, their last loss to the Eagles in 1997.

Author Bio

Garth Meyer, Reporter

Garth Meyer is a reporter and sports writer at the Whitman County Gazette in Colfax, Wash.

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