E. Washington 58, Portland St. 57

12/23/2007 12:27 AM

CHENEY, Wash. (AP) -Kellen Williams banked in an 8-foot jumpshot with 5.4 seconds left to carry Eastern Washington past Portland State 58-57 in the Big Sky Conference opener for both teams on Saturday night.

Williams finished with a game-high 19 points for the Eagles (6-8, 1-0), winners of three straight.

Deonte Huff scored 16 to lead the Vikings (7-6, 0-1).

Eastern led 56-53 on Milan Stanojevic's drive with 6:41 left - the final field goal for either team until Williams' final shot.

PSU hit 4-of-6 from the foul line in the final minutes and held a 57-56 lead with 1:09 left.

After a PSU turnover with 15 seconds left, Eastern turned to Williams, who went up over two defenders for the game winner.

The Vikings' final shot attempt from 30 feet out came up short at the buzzer.

Williams, who hit 6-of-9 from the floor, also finished with 11 rebounds. Adris DeLeon added 11 points.

Andre Murray came off the bench for 15 points for PSU, which managed just 30 percent shooting from the field in the second half.

Despite shooting nearly 64 percent from the floor in the first half, Portland State needed a 7-2 spurt to close the half to forge a 32-all halftime tie, due in part to 1-of-9 foul shooting. PSU finished 7-of-19 from the line.

Eastern led by as many as six points in the first half, grabbing a 23-17 lead on back-to-back 3-pointers by Stanojevic and Williams.