Bekkering leaves
Henry Bekkering, a fan favorite, has decided to leave the Eastern Washington University men’s basketball team and return to Canada.
“Things didn’t work out here,” the native of Taber, Alberta, said. “I’m going to go home to play with my brother at the University of Calgary. To play at home in front of my family is a great opportunity.”
Bekkering, a redshirt sophomore, played sparingly this season, especially down the stretch. He played in 20 of the 30 EWU games, averaging 12 minutes and 3.9 points, but he only played in half of the 14 conference games, averaging 5 minutes. He didn’t play in either playoff game.
“I don’t know if I could really find my role on the team, I didn’t know what that was,” the 6-foot-7 forward said. “The coaches never communicated that to me. I might have started to play out of character. It’s not like I wanted to leave. I wasn’t thinking that at the beginning of the year, I have a lot of friends, but things didn’t work out. I had to make a decision.”
Bekkering, nationally renowned in Canada for his jumping ability, redshirted when the Eagles went to the NCAA tournament two years ago.
Last year he missed six games with an injured shoulder but played in 22 games, starting 15. He averaged five points in 16.2 minutes.
“All my teammates were awesome. I built a lot of great relationships,” he said. “Basketball-wise it was up and down.”
He has to sit out a year. His brother Ross just finished his freshman year. His sister Janelle is going to play at Gonzaga next year.
The Eagles have also added another player to next year’s recruiting class, although Chris Sprinker can’t officially sign a letter of intent until next month.
The 6-8, 210-pound Sprinker averaged about 11 points, eight blocks and three steals for Curtis High School in Tacoma, although he missed more than half the season with a broken wrist before returning late in the season.
His team reached the semifinals of the State 4A tournament last weekend, losing by four points to eventual champion Franklin in the semifinals and by one point to South Kitsap in the game for third and sixth places, finishing with a 25-4 record.
“The thing that makes him good is he’s long, he has decent athleticism and he’s going to get nothing but better,” Curtis coach Lindsey Bemis said. “He’s come a long, long way in the last two years and it’s going to continue. I don’t think he’s done growing. He’s put on about 25 pounds since his sophomore year, he’s not afraid of hard work.”
The Eagles signed Brewster guard Michael Taylor and junior college guard Omar Krayman out of Lower Columbia Basin during the November signing period.