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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

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It’s a good thing it’s Sunday. We need a rest from basketball

Colton’s Meghan Dvorak, left, looks for a passing lane against Republic’s Shania Graham during the girls State 1B title game in the Spokane Arena on Saturday. (Tyler Tjomsland / The Spokesman-Review)
Colton’s Meghan Dvorak, left, looks for a passing lane against Republic’s Shania Graham during the girls State 1B title game in the Spokane Arena on Saturday. (Tyler Tjomsland / The Spokesman-Review)

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Are you sort of hungover this morning? No, not that type of hangover. The type you get from too much basketball. All kinds. My head hurts. Read on.

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• There was a full day of high school basketball available yesterday, though I only took in about six hours worth. There were college games on all day, though I only really watched Gonzaga’s easy, but possibly costly, win over Portland. Yet my mind is a bit overwhelmed this morning, still dealing with the noise, the sounds, the passion and the effort. And we’re only talking about the fans. The games themselves? Basketball is so much fun to watch, it’s silly, really. But hour after hour can wear down even the most hardened of us. And leave us bereft of ways to describe it. So we’ll just move on to the links and call this morning good.

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• WSU: The Pac-12 basketball regular season ended yesterday which means a champion was crowned – if you had Oregon before the season began I want you to pick my Powerball numbers the next time the jackpot exceeds $100 million – and the tournament matchups were determined. WSU will face Colorado in the first round. Jacob Thorpe has the news in this blog post. ... Yes, the Ducks won at USC and won the conference title. ... UCLA lost to Oregon State and is below .500. ... Utah rallied from way down to defeat Colorado. ... The Washington State baseball team lost in 11 innings.

• Gonzaga: The costly nature of the win? John Blanchette covers it – and other things – in his column. It’s backup big Ryan Edwards hurting his knee. The game itself is the province of Jim Meehan, who has this story on the 92-67 WCC tournament win in Las Vegas. Colin Mulvany also has a photo report. ... In other tournament games, BYU, who will meet Gonzaga on Monday, got past Santa Clara, Saint Mary’s struggled but finally defeated Loyola Marymount and Pepperdine got past a game USF team.

• EWU: Things didn’t line up for the Eagles yesterday as Weber State 43 foul shots helped it defeat Eastern, 79-77. Jim Allen was in Cheney and has the game story. ... Elsewhere in the Big Sky, Montana lost to Northern Colorado at home and surrendered a piece of the conference title. ... Post Falls’ Marcus Colbert scored 29 points in his last home game for Montana State, a win over North Dakota. ... Portland State got past Southern Utah.

• Idaho: The Vandals won 20 games for the first time under coach Don Verlin and they celebrated. Josh Wright has the story from Moscow.

• Whitworth: One of the most accomplished seasons in Pirate basketball history finished with a thud, as Whitman was able to accomplish what no one else could this season: defeat Whitworth. The Missionaries did it for the second time Saturday night, winning 88-86 and knocking Whitworth from the NCAA Division III playoffs. Tom Clouse has the game story. ... The Pirate softball team split a doubleheader yesterday.

• CCS: Both the men and women moved on the NWC Championships next week.

• Chiefs: With the 4-1 loss at Prince George, Spokane’s lead in the race for the final Western Conference playoff spot was cut to four points over Tri-City. ... The Americans crawled closer thanks to a 5-3 win over Everett.

• Preps: You know the drill by now. We’ll start in Tacoma, where Greg Lee has the story on Central Valley’s 4A girls title. He also has this piece on Gonzaga Prep’s boys finishing third. ... In Spokane, I had the 2B boys title game and I wrote about Northwest Christian winning its eighth B championship. ... Mike Vlahovich covered Okanogan’s second consecutive 2B girls title. ... Neah Bay captured the 1B boys title by defeating previously undefeated Almira/Coulee-Hartline and Josh Horton has the game story. ... In the 1B girls, Colton won its eighth consecutive title. Kevin Dudley has the story. ... Elsewhere in Washington, Lewis and Clark finished sixth in the 4A girls, Mt. Spokane earned fourth in the 3A girls.  Greg Lee has that story. ... Clarkston’s boys won another 2A title while East Valley finished third in the girls. ... Freeman couldn’t get shots to fall and fell in the 1A boys final. ... In Idaho, Genesis Prep grabbed third place in the 1A Division II state tournament.

• Seahawks: The Hawks are moving to lock up their restricted free agents. ... Speaking of free agents, here is No. 3 in the countdown. ... Kam Chancellor has some thoughts on the 911 call.

• Mariners: The M’s have a prospect with an upside, which is rare, but they had to make a trade to get him. ... Last year wasn’t all that happy in the clubhouse, something that needs to change. ... Chris Taylor is trying to show he can play more positions, Danny Hultzen is trying to show his arm is sound and the M’s just want to show up and win a game.

• Sounders: Is this the year for the Sounders? Their rivals to the south won the title last year but, with Jordan Morris injecting some young blood, maybe the time has come in Seattle. ... The Timbers are defending the MLS title but still have some stadium issues to work out.

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• Another Sunday. It’s raining. Maybe it’s movie time? Until later ...



Vince Grippi
Vince Grippi is a freelance local sports blogger for spokesman.com. He also contributes to the SportsLink Blog.

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