Ewu Hotshot Relies On Goodwill
Eastern Washington point gaurd Brett Thompson entered Tuesday night’s game at Sacramento State having taken just four 3-pointers this season, making three.
Thompson surprised the Hornets by hitting 4 of 5 from beyond the arc, leading the Eagles to a 69-64 victory. The junior from Davenport, Iowa, was averaging just 2.1 points per game this season, but lit up the Hornets for a career-high 16.
“You make it sound like it’s out of the norm for me,” Thompson deadpanned. “I really don’t know what it was. I had a little revenge on my mind from the last time we played them.”
When Sac State visited Cheney on Jan. 19, Hornets forward Michael Boyd made the game-winning basket over Thompson. This time, Thompson hit his last four 3-point tries and had a chance to put Eastern ahead 68-64 by making two free throws with 49 seconds left.
Two bricks later, Thompson said he thought, “Geez, don’t let it happen again.”
Teammate Melvin Lewis didn’t, tipping Thompson’s second miss to D’mitri Rideout for a layup.
Thompson attributed his good fortune to the “lucky suits” he and teammate Josh Lewis picked out for the trip.
“I was trying to find a messed-up outfit to wear just because it was our last road trip,” Thompson explained, “and so I had a fish tie that was pretty nice, and I was thinking how I could really screw it up. So I said, ‘Josh, let’s just go to Goodwill and try to find something.”
Thompson found a pin-striped suit, complete with tie and paisley vest. All for $22.66. Lewis found a similar get-up.
“We got a lot of looks in the airport,” Thompson confessed.
The coaches, including assistant Ron Cox, could only watch - from a distance, if possible.
“I’d yell ‘Dad!’ to coach Cox every once in a while,” Thompson said, “just to try to embarrass him a little bit.”
Thompson wouldn’t mind seeing head coach John Wade follow suit, so to speak. “Well, some of the stuff coach has busted out might fit in,” Thompson cracked, singling out one of Wade’s yellow blazers. “He’s got a Century 21 jacket. You could put a little Century 21 on it and it would be absolutely perfect.”
Iron men
Since midseason, Idaho’s depth has been sapped by Jevon Green’s legal troubles and Kelly Walker’s dismissal from the team.
Lately, UI’s starting five of Ben Johnson, Mark Leslie, Shawn Dirden, Nate Gardner and Harry Harrison have been court fixtures. The five scored 142 of UI’s 148 points in wins over Northern Arizona and Weber State last week.
They’ve played at least 30 minutes in five of the last seven games.
“They’re not allowed to get tired,” joked UI coach Joe Cravens.
Equal time
Less than a month after providing insights for a radio broadcast of a Grizzlies game, Montana Gov. Marc Racicot has decided to give the Bobcats equal time.
Racicot, a former basketball standout at Carroll College in Helena, will be a guest commentator during the television broadcast of Saturday’s game between Montana State and Eastern Washington.
“Shhh, that’s all we need,” lamented EWU coach Wade, before sending a good-natured barb at the refs. “They got three governors out there helping them out. They don’t need the real governor.
“No, they’re a good team. They don’t need any help.”
ISU, BSU, PEE-YEW
Idaho State and Boise State were throttled on their respective home courts last week, each falling to Montana and Montana State.
The talented Bengals have lost four straight Sky games and reportedly gave up during one stretch of Saturday’s 86-69 loss to UM.
ISU coach Herb Williams is undaunted. “Two weeks from now when we win the tournament, you’ll be asking me what I did,” he said.
Talk is admittedly cheap, as verified by what Boise guard Damon Archibald growled pre-Montana invasion: “You’re looking at a bunch of (BSU) guys who are ticked off with the world.”
BSU was promptly swept in home conference games for the first time since 1984-85.”This team is in total shambles and they boo us. What’s with that?” he asked. “It’s amazing we’ve even won 16 games.”
If Weber State and Montana close out their seasons with victories - or if Weber State loses and Montana splits its games - the winner of Friday’s Idaho State at Boise State game will determine the conference tournament site. If BSU wins, Weber hosts the tournament. If ISU wins, Montana hosts.
Montana has already secured the right to host the women’s tourey.