When the final buzzer sounded, Eastern Washington guard Drew Brandon threw his hands in the air and looked for a teammate. He found fellow guard Parker Kelly and high-fived him at center court.
“I told you!” he screamed over a stunned Assembly Hall crowd. “I told you.”
Brandon had just scored 27 points to lead the nation’s No. 151 team to an 88-86 victory over IU.
A collapse late in the second half saw the Hoosiers concede a nine-point lead in the final 10 minutes.
Eastern Washington outscored IU 36-25 over that stretch, and it did so in the paint. The Eagles scored 18 points in the paint and pulled in seven offensive rebounds in the game’s last 10 minutes.
“That’s what attack basketball looks like, especially on the offensive end,” IU Coach Tom Crean said.
After the two teams traded the lead back and forth, the game came down to IU’s final possession.
Trailing by three points with 14 seconds to play, junior guard Yogi Ferrell held the ball at the top of the key. He ran around a screen and drove to the rim. He couldn’t finish at the basket, and the rebound fell to Eastern Washington. Game over.
Ferrell said the decision to drive to the basket rather than attempt a game-tying 3-pointer was Crean’s.
“(Crean) told me that we didn’t need a 3, necessarily,” Ferrell said. “So I just looked for a driving lane. I’m still surprised I missed that layup.”
Ferrell carried his team through the second half, scoring 19 of his 27 points in the period. He either scored or assisted on 20 of IU’s final 23 points.
“Yogi Ferrell was a very special player,” Eastern Washington Coach Jim Hayford said. “We didn’t have an answer for him.”
Sophomore forward Troy Williams finished with 19 points and nine rebounds. Freshman guard James Blackmon, Jr., scored 10 points.
Seventy-two of Eastern Washington’s 88 points came from the trio of Brandon, guard Tyler Harvey and forward Venky Jois. No other Eagle scored more than six points.
The loss was Crean’s first at Assembly Hall in the month of November. The eighth-year head coach had won his first 22 such contests.
Throughout his post-game press conference, Crean said he would hold practice that night if the rules allowed. Despite the loss, he said, he’s excited about this team’s potential.
“If the rules weren’t the way they are, I’d practice right now,” Crean said. “Because I’d love our guys to continue to understand how fast, how hard, how tenacious they have to be every possession.
“It’s a shame that we lost it, because they beat us.”
