He’s a fine role model

Marc Axton’s four seasons with the Eastern Washington University basketball team have garnered enough superlatives to fill more than one scrapbook.

There’s the Big Sky Conference Freshman of the Year award and two all-conference honors that followed, mixed with a heavy dose of statistical achievements.

Yet none of that defines the 6-foot-7 forward from Tacoma as well as one comment from a teammate.

“Coming in coach told me to model myself after Marc,” freshman post Jake Beitinger said. “Marc is a great player, but just an average guy”

It’s important to note that Eagles coach Mike Burns did not tell Beitinger to model his game after Axton, though that isn’t a bad idea either.

Axton has started 94 straight games, beginning with the final 10 of his freshman year, and has averaged 10.8 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 114 career games. He is the 14th Eagle to surpass 1,000 points, but just the fifth since EWU moved to NCAA Division I 26 years ago. His 1,232 points rank sixth in school history.

The combination of talent and character makes this a doubly difficult weekend for the Eagles. Eastern could clinch a berth in the Big Sky Tournament if it can beat Weber State tonight and Idaho State on Saturday – and Northern Arizona loses one of its final three conference games. At the same time, it’s the last home appearances for Axton and senior reserves Jeremy McCulloch, Khary Nicholas and Rachi Wortham.

“Marc has had as good a basketball career here as anybody that has ever worn an Eastern uniform,” Burns said. “Saying goodbye to him and the other three seniors will be very, very tough. That will be an emotional night for me, our staff and the rest of the kids.”

Axton arrived in Cheney after a great career that included a state championship at Foss High School wanting just one thing – a chance to play.

“It was the coaching staff,” Axton said. “I really felt like when they recruited me they really wanted me. They told me I would have an opportunity here. Just trying to work hard when I got here was the big thing.”

If the Eagles extend their season, the first tourney game would be Axton’s record 119th. While reaching that milestone, he never missed a practice and stayed on course to graduate in four years with a business management major.

“You can see how many different lineups (nine), injuries and stuff that we have been through this year, and then you see Marc,” Burns said. “He has been as solid as a piece of granite.”

Axton deflects the spotlight. When Foss retired his No. 24 jersey recently he said, “It was a huge honor for me. I don’t know if I’m worthy of it.”

Despite being in the top 10 of so many career lists, he said, “I’ve just been fortunate enough to be surrounded by good people,” he said.

But things changed this year after four players, three of them starters, graduated from Eastern’s first NCAA Tournament team. As the only senior starter, Axton has shouldered the responsibility of leadership without complaint, even as the Eagles have struggled after five consecutive years of finishing at least second in the Big Sky.

“It’s a lot bigger burden than I expected,” he said. “Being a junior last year, I didn’t know what it was like to be a senior. I don’t think anybody knows until you’re actually a senior. You carry a lot more burden. Being your last year, you want to go out well.

“It can affect your game, but if you don’t let it get to you, it won’t. I try not to let it affect my game, and I don’t think it has much. I think it’s been a good thing for me to be a leader on the team.”

His teammates have noticed, even if Axton mostly leads by example.

“Marc Axton is a really nice guy, and he has taught me so much about the game,” redshirt freshman Henry Bekkering said.

“He just does the little things. … Everyone knows he’s a great scorer, but like all the great players, he does the little things.”

As Beitinger struggled to adjust to college, Axton was there.

“There wasn’t a day that went by when Marc told me to hang in there, keep plugging away,” he said. “He told me, ‘I did the same thing and you’re going to be just fine.’ ”

No one has been finer than Axton.

“I want to get on with my life, but hopefully I have eight or nine games left,” he said. “Things have to work out this weekend.”