OGDEN -- The rest vs. rust debate is as old as the concept of a first-round bye.
Even before Eastern Washington took away Weber State's chance at a bye and forced the Wildcats into a Big Sky tournament quarterfinal game today, WSU coach Randy Rahe said his team would be ready either way.
"If you're fortunate to win it, then you get a bye into the semifinals. Some people think that's a good thing and some people would rather play," Rahe said last Tuesday. "I really have no thoughts on it. Whatever happens, happens. If we get the bye, then we'll view it as a good thing and if we don't, then we'll view (playing instead of resting) as a good thing and get on to the next thing."
Weber State (17-11, 11-5 Big Sky) didn't get the bye, and the next thing looks a lot like the last thing -- the same Eastern Washington team that took the Wildcats down Wednesday stayed in town to face the Wildcats in a rematch tonight at 7:30 p.m. to make the season series a best-of-3.
WSU finished in third place in the Big Sky for the No. 3 seed; EWU (10-19, 7-9) tied with Montana State for fifth in the league but became the No. 6 seed.
The winner advances to play No. 2 seed Montana in the Big Sky tournament semifinals next Tuesday in Greeley, Colo.
No. 5 seed Montana State travels to No. 4 seed Northern Arizona today for the right to play tournament host Northern Colorado, the No. 1 seed, at Butler-Hancock Sports Pavilion in the other semifinal Tuesday.
The Eagles, coached by former Weber State assistant Kirk Earlywine, swooped in Wednesday to slash the Wildcats' eight-game conference win streak and string of 21 straight regular-season Big Sky home wins.
Jeffrey Forbes and Cliff Coliman each scored 17 points and Cliff Ederaine added 16 points in EWU's 75-59 win, while senior guard Lindsey Hughey tossed in a game-high 21 points for Weber State and junior forward Kyle Bullinger had 13.
The real key to Eastern Washington's upset was forcing Weber State into 23 turnovers, which the Eagles converted into 29 points.
"If we play like this again, we won't have a chance," said Bullinger, who was named first-team all-conference Thursday along with sophomore guard Scott Bamforth. "We've got to improve defensively, offensively, rebounding. We've got to bring our edge mentally. They were ready to play, we weren't ready to play. They were hungry, they were aggressive; we were lackadaisical and not aggressive at all."
Hughey was named to the all-Big Sky honorable mention list Thursday with senior center Trevor Morris. Bamforth was the newcomer of the year and forward Byron Fulton was the freshman of the year.
Eastern Washington guard Glen Dean, a second-teamer, was the Eagles' only player honored on the all-conference lists, but that didn't stop Eastern Washington from upsetting Montana and Weber State in their final two games of the regular season.
Hughey said Weber State didn't deal well mentally with the Eagles' pressure.
"They physically pushed us out and we didn't handle it the right way," he said. "We were out there worrying about the refs, getting pushed out and all the little things that we usually don't worry about. That caused us to turn the ball over."
The Wildcats trailed by 18 points at halftime, but Hughey keyed a run with 11 points in 21âÑ2 minutes that cut the lead to four in the second half before Coliman responded with a series of 3-pointers to put the game away.
Rahe said it had been a long time since he'd seen his team not have the right mindset for a game.
"We played like our team for about nine minutes in the second half," he said. "I didn't see it at practice, I was a little surprised by it.
"There could be a million reasons, I don't know, but I do know this: I always will and I do trust these kids. We had a hiccup tonight. Something tells me they'll find a way to get it back for the next one."
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