Eastern To Extend Season With Game at Saint Mary's :: With both teams having a game available, Gaels ask EWU to come to Moraga and help in the return of Patrick Mills to their lineup
Eastern To Extend Season With Game at Saint Mary's
With both teams having a game available, Gaels ask EWU to come to Moraga and help in the return of Patrick Mills to their lineup
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The 2008-09 season will be extended by one more game for Andy Genao and his Eagle teammates as EWU will play at Saint Mary's on March 13.
March 6, 2009
It's truly an oddity, but there will be a postseason after all for the Eastern Washington University men's basketball team.
The Eagles have agreed to extend their season and play Saint Mary's College of the West Coast Conference next Friday (March 13) at 7:05 p.m. Pacific time at the McKeon Pavilion in Moraga, Calif. The game is expected to be carried live via radio on 1050-AM in Spokane, with Larry Weir calling the play-by-play.
Eastern, 12-17, thought it had ended its season last Saturday (Feb. 28) with a 68-62 overtime loss to Portland State. The setback eliminated the Eagles from contention for one of six berths into the Big Sky Conference Tournament, which starts this Saturday (March 7).
Saint Mary's, meanwhile, is 24-5 and enters the now-underway West Coast Conference Tournament as the No. 2 seed and has a bye to Sunday's semifinals. However, All-America candidate Patrick Mills has missed the last nine games with a broken hand, and SMC was looking for another game to help better prepare the sophomore guard for an anticipated NCAA Tournament berth or invitation to one of the other postseason national tourneys.
"It's a wonderful opportunity for us to go play a very, very good team with a player who is most likely a lottery pick in the NBA Draft," said Eastern head coach Kirk Earlywine of the agreement that was reached today (March 6). "They are a team that is most likely going to be in the NCAA Tournament and are capable of making a good run in the tournament."
Both the Eagles and Gaels are able to utilize different NCAA schedule exceptions to enable them to add a game at this late date. Eastern has played in the NCAA limit of 29 games, but EWU's game at Hawaii in December is exempt from that restriction. Saint Mary's played three of its 29 games in the 76 Classic in Anaheim, putting it one game short of the alternative NCAA limitation of 27 games plus one qualifying regular-season multiple team event.
Earlywine told his players about the possibility late Thursday afternoon, and joyous EWU players quickly hit the court as Earlywine and his staff resumed their recruiting efforts at high school and junior college tournaments.
"Needless to say, they were really excited about it -- the whole team was," Earlywine said of the team's reaction. "That was one of the conditions that I had set in my mind for us to go play the game -- all the players had to want to play and it had to be unanimous. I thought they would be, but I wasn't 100 percent sure. But they are excited and I'm excited."
Four Eastern seniors -- Milan Stanojevic, Adris DeLeon, Andy Genao and Jeff Christensen -- will get the opportunity to play one more game in their collegiate careers. And for the team's six underclassmen -- including second team All-Big Sky Conference selection Benny Valentine -- the game helps them build for next year.
"As a coach and even during my own playing career, many times I have heard guys say, `What I would give to be able to play more game,'" said Earlywine. "And in this case, they are going to get to play one more game.
"I'm looking at it as another game for four seniors who have contributed a lot to this program," he added. "And for our other six players, it gives them another game under their belt in trying to build for next year."
Mills, who scored 20 points for Australia against the United States in last summer's Olympic Games, is averaging 18.7 points, 3.9 assists and 2.4 steals per game for the Gaels. But he hasn't played since suffering a broken hand in the first half at Gonzaga on Jan. 29 and undergoing surgery on Feb. 4. Saint Mary's was 18-1 at the time, and he scored 18 first-half points in helping SMC to a 38-32 halftime lead over the Bulldogs. But without Mills in the lineup, the Gaels lost that game and three others to fall out of the national rankings. He was cleared to practice again on March 2.
Mills is supported by 6-foot-11 Omar Samhan and 6-7 Diamon Simpson, who have combined for an average of more than 27 points and nearly 20 rebounds per game. Samhan averages 13.7 points and 9.2 rebounds, and Simpson is averaging 13.6 points and 10.7 rebounds. Carlin Hughes is averaging 8.4 points and 3.6 assists per game and has made 47 three-pointers, second only to the 51 by Mills.
"They only have one loss with Mills in the lineup," said Earlywine of the challenge ahead. "All of our players saw him in the game against United States last year and what he did in that game. I think our players will be every bit as excited for this game as they were for our first game of the year at Illinois."
The teams have one common opponent this season, Portland. Eastern defeated the Pilots 63-58, while Saint Mary's split with Portland, falling 84-66 on the road and prevailing 77-65 in Moraga.
Earlywine will continue recruiting efforts through Saturday as the team continues its re-conditioning efforts. Practices will begin on Monday with the Eagles expected to fly to Northern California the day of the game.
"I'm a little more concerned about our players forgetting out-of-bounds plays and set plays in a week than I am the absence of conditioning," said Earlywine of the week off. "We'll spend Monday reviewing to make sure they haven't completely forgotten things, then we'll start preparation for Saint Mary's on Tuesday."
Saint Mary's is coached by Randy Bennett, who is in his eighth season at the helm. He spent the 1986-87 and 1987-88 seasons as an assistant coach at the University of Idaho under Tim Floyd, who is now head coach at USC. Bennett was also an assistant coach at Saint Louis under current Washington head coach Lorenzo Romar.
Eastern is 2-2 all-time versus Saint Mary's, including an 88-80 Eagle victory in Cheney in the most recent meeting on Nov. 26, 2002. The Eagles finished 18-13 and advanced to the NIT that season, a year before EWU advanced to its first and only NCAA Tournament.
Eastern lost 73-67 in Moraga on Dec. 22, 2001, in Bennett's first year as Saint Mary's head coach. Eastern's head coach in the last two meetings with the Gaels was Ray Giacoletti, who is now an assistant coach at Gonzaga.
The Eagles also beat the Gaels on Dec. 29, 1989, in Cheney and lost to them 76-56 on Dec. 19, 1988, on a neutral court.
Eastern To Extend Season With Game at Saint Mary's
With both teams having a game available, Gaels ask EWU to come to Moraga and help in the return of Patrick Mills to their lineup
Printer-Friendly Format
E-mail this article
The 2008-09 season will be extended by one more game for Andy Genao and his Eagle teammates as EWU will play at Saint Mary's on March 13.
March 6, 2009
It's truly an oddity, but there will be a postseason after all for the Eastern Washington University men's basketball team.
The Eagles have agreed to extend their season and play Saint Mary's College of the West Coast Conference next Friday (March 13) at 7:05 p.m. Pacific time at the McKeon Pavilion in Moraga, Calif. The game is expected to be carried live via radio on 1050-AM in Spokane, with Larry Weir calling the play-by-play.
Eastern, 12-17, thought it had ended its season last Saturday (Feb. 28) with a 68-62 overtime loss to Portland State. The setback eliminated the Eagles from contention for one of six berths into the Big Sky Conference Tournament, which starts this Saturday (March 7).
Saint Mary's, meanwhile, is 24-5 and enters the now-underway West Coast Conference Tournament as the No. 2 seed and has a bye to Sunday's semifinals. However, All-America candidate Patrick Mills has missed the last nine games with a broken hand, and SMC was looking for another game to help better prepare the sophomore guard for an anticipated NCAA Tournament berth or invitation to one of the other postseason national tourneys.
"It's a wonderful opportunity for us to go play a very, very good team with a player who is most likely a lottery pick in the NBA Draft," said Eastern head coach Kirk Earlywine of the agreement that was reached today (March 6). "They are a team that is most likely going to be in the NCAA Tournament and are capable of making a good run in the tournament."
Both the Eagles and Gaels are able to utilize different NCAA schedule exceptions to enable them to add a game at this late date. Eastern has played in the NCAA limit of 29 games, but EWU's game at Hawaii in December is exempt from that restriction. Saint Mary's played three of its 29 games in the 76 Classic in Anaheim, putting it one game short of the alternative NCAA limitation of 27 games plus one qualifying regular-season multiple team event.
Earlywine told his players about the possibility late Thursday afternoon, and joyous EWU players quickly hit the court as Earlywine and his staff resumed their recruiting efforts at high school and junior college tournaments.
"Needless to say, they were really excited about it -- the whole team was," Earlywine said of the team's reaction. "That was one of the conditions that I had set in my mind for us to go play the game -- all the players had to want to play and it had to be unanimous. I thought they would be, but I wasn't 100 percent sure. But they are excited and I'm excited."
Four Eastern seniors -- Milan Stanojevic, Adris DeLeon, Andy Genao and Jeff Christensen -- will get the opportunity to play one more game in their collegiate careers. And for the team's six underclassmen -- including second team All-Big Sky Conference selection Benny Valentine -- the game helps them build for next year.
"As a coach and even during my own playing career, many times I have heard guys say, `What I would give to be able to play more game,'" said Earlywine. "And in this case, they are going to get to play one more game.
"I'm looking at it as another game for four seniors who have contributed a lot to this program," he added. "And for our other six players, it gives them another game under their belt in trying to build for next year."
Mills, who scored 20 points for Australia against the United States in last summer's Olympic Games, is averaging 18.7 points, 3.9 assists and 2.4 steals per game for the Gaels. But he hasn't played since suffering a broken hand in the first half at Gonzaga on Jan. 29 and undergoing surgery on Feb. 4. Saint Mary's was 18-1 at the time, and he scored 18 first-half points in helping SMC to a 38-32 halftime lead over the Bulldogs. But without Mills in the lineup, the Gaels lost that game and three others to fall out of the national rankings. He was cleared to practice again on March 2.
Mills is supported by 6-foot-11 Omar Samhan and 6-7 Diamon Simpson, who have combined for an average of more than 27 points and nearly 20 rebounds per game. Samhan averages 13.7 points and 9.2 rebounds, and Simpson is averaging 13.6 points and 10.7 rebounds. Carlin Hughes is averaging 8.4 points and 3.6 assists per game and has made 47 three-pointers, second only to the 51 by Mills.
"They only have one loss with Mills in the lineup," said Earlywine of the challenge ahead. "All of our players saw him in the game against United States last year and what he did in that game. I think our players will be every bit as excited for this game as they were for our first game of the year at Illinois."
The teams have one common opponent this season, Portland. Eastern defeated the Pilots 63-58, while Saint Mary's split with Portland, falling 84-66 on the road and prevailing 77-65 in Moraga.
Earlywine will continue recruiting efforts through Saturday as the team continues its re-conditioning efforts. Practices will begin on Monday with the Eagles expected to fly to Northern California the day of the game.
"I'm a little more concerned about our players forgetting out-of-bounds plays and set plays in a week than I am the absence of conditioning," said Earlywine of the week off. "We'll spend Monday reviewing to make sure they haven't completely forgotten things, then we'll start preparation for Saint Mary's on Tuesday."
Saint Mary's is coached by Randy Bennett, who is in his eighth season at the helm. He spent the 1986-87 and 1987-88 seasons as an assistant coach at the University of Idaho under Tim Floyd, who is now head coach at USC. Bennett was also an assistant coach at Saint Louis under current Washington head coach Lorenzo Romar.
Eastern is 2-2 all-time versus Saint Mary's, including an 88-80 Eagle victory in Cheney in the most recent meeting on Nov. 26, 2002. The Eagles finished 18-13 and advanced to the NIT that season, a year before EWU advanced to its first and only NCAA Tournament.
Eastern lost 73-67 in Moraga on Dec. 22, 2001, in Bennett's first year as Saint Mary's head coach. Eastern's head coach in the last two meetings with the Gaels was Ray Giacoletti, who is now an assistant coach at Gonzaga.
The Eagles also beat the Gaels on Dec. 29, 1989, in Cheney and lost to them 76-56 on Dec. 19, 1988, on a neutral court.
