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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

When Pain, Athletics Don’t Mix Scott, Torn By Death Of Friend, Faces Decision

Karim Scott is faced with perhaps the toughest decision of his life.

As Eastern Washington’s best all-around player, does he stay on campus this weekend and lend his immense basketball talents to the Eagles’ drive toward their first Big Sky Conference tournament berth in seven seasons?

Or does he fly home to Fresno Calif., to help bury a childhood friend?

Earlier in the week Scott was leaning toward attending Saturday’s funeral of Keon King, a lifelong buddy who was shot to death during an altercation Monday night in Fresno.

But Wednesday evening, Eagles coach Steve Aggers said he expected to have Scott, his leading scorer and rebounder, available for both tonight’s 7:05 Reese Court matchup against Idaho State and Saturday’s showdown against Cal State Sacramento.

“Obviously, he’s broken up by the tragedy, but my indication is he’s going to stay,” Aggers said following his second meeting of the day with Scott, a senior forward who is averaging 16.6 points, 6.7 rebounds and just over two steals per game. “He’s getting some pressure from his family to return home, but he knows he should be here.”

The dilemma arose Tuesday morning when Scott learned of King’s death.

Scott, whose identical twin, Kalim, plays for Concordia University in Irvine, Calif., said Keon King and his twin brother, Kenon, had been friends of the family for as long as he can remember.

“The four of us ran around together all the time,” he recalled. “We used to tell people we were cousins.”

Scott said he hasn’t heard all of the details surrounding Keon’s death, but was shocked by the news. “We didn’t grow up with a lot of things the other kids had, but we didn’t grow up in a bad neighborhood, either,” he said.

Scott dressed for practice Tuesday afternoon, but spent most of it watching from the sidelines at the insistence of Aggers, who was forced to deal with a tragedy more closer to home last winter when Rod McClure, his starting point guard, was killed in a traffic accident over Christmas break.

“Obviously, if anybody understands the tragedy of death, it’s our program after what happened to Rod,” Aggers said. “But this had just happened the night before and Karim was pretty distraught and unable to focus.”

Aggers, in his third season at EWU, has the Eagles, 9-9 overall, tied with Cal State Northridge for sixth place in the Big Sky standings at 3-5.

The top six regular-season finishers qualify for the league tournament and automatic NCAA berth that goes to the winner. Portland State, which is tied for second at 6-2, is not eligible for postseason play, and wins over 8th-place ISU (5-15, 1- 9) and cellar-dwelling Sac State (1-17, 0-8) would all but assure Eastern of its first tournament appearance since 1989-90.

“We’re going to need Karim,” Aggers said of the 6-foot-6, 185-pound Scott. “He’s certainly one of the best small forwards in our league, and we need him to be at his best down the stretch.

“You worry about how the tragedy of a friend’s death will affect him emotionally, but all you can really do is help him work through it.”

When Scott is at his best, he’s as good as anyone in the Big Sky. And he’s been his best this season when the Eagles are at home.

In the seven games at Reese Court, Scott is averaging nearly 21 points a game. He scored a career-high 36 in an early season rout of Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo and has scored more than 20 on three other occasions.

He has struggled on the road, however, and seems at a loss to explain why.

“When I’m at home, I have the confidence to just play my game,” Scott explained, “but on the road I just don’t feel the same. I haven’t figured out why, but I don’t get as many looks as I do at home.”

As a slasher with seemingly unlimited hops, Scott can create shots and score from anywhere. And as the Eagles’ quickest defender, he is normally assigned to guard the other team’s top scorer.

His only weakness is his lack of bulk - a problem he has been trying to remedy since grade school.

“If I weighed 210, I’d probably be a first-round draft pick,” Scott said, only half-jokingly. “I’m not ever going to get huge, but I’ve tried to put on weight. I’m eating all the time - hamburgers, candy, all kinds of fat foods, but my metabolism must be awful high.

“I don’t even worry about it anymore. I just try to stay physically strong.”

And no matter what he decides to do this weekend, Karim Scott will need to stay mentally strong.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: COMING UP Idaho State visits Reese Court tonight. Game time is 7:05.

This sidebar appeared with the story: COMING UP Idaho State visits Reese Court tonight. Game time is 7:05.