A GRIP ON SPORTS • It's not often Eastern's basketball team wins in Missoula. Or Gonzaga's doesn't in Santa Clara. Or, this year at least, a visitor does in Corvallis. Read on.

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• If you live in East Bayford, New Jersey or some such place, if you've heard of Eastern Washington's basketball team at all, it is because of Tyler Harvey, the nation's leading scorer. He's the face of the Eagles right now, a smooth left-handed junior with range to halfcourt. But he wasn't available last night when Eastern faced its biggest challenge of the Big Sky Conference season: a road trip to Montana. Winning in Missoula isn't something EWU has done a lot of recently. Or ever. It's been 11 years since the Eagles found a way to win there. And without Harvey, they needed to find a different way. They did. Instead of replacing his nearly 24 points a game, they decided to subtract that many from the Grizzlies' total. In other words, Eastern dialed up the defense and took a 75-69 victory. "They wanted to show ... that they were more than just Tyler," Eastern coach Jim Hayford said. But if you have been paying attention, you would have known that already. When Venky Jois went down with an ankle sprain recently, freshman Bogdan Bliznyuk stepped in and stepped up. With Harvey out last night, Drew Brandon scored a career-high 27 points. Parker Kelly and Jois bring toughness every night. Ognjen Miljkovic and Felix Van Hofe take turns adding key 3-pointers. The Eagles don't seem to be all that deep but when needed, just about everyone Hayford has called on has contributed. And their defense, justly overshadowed by their free-wheeling, attacking offense, has been improving, even if first-year Montana head coach Travis DeCuire reportedly referred to it this week as the worst in the Big Sky. It was good enough last night. In fact, the Eagles were good enough last night that they left DeCuire complaining about the officiating, quoted in the Missoulian as saying his team was "cheated." He was more than likely referring to a late intentional foul call on the Griz but, really, a Montana basketball coach complaining about the officiating in Missoula? Now we've seen – and heard – everything. 

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• WSU: No one has been able to defeat Oregon State in Corvallis this season and, though they came close, the Cougars were not trendsetters last night. Jacob Thorpe has the game story of WSU's 55-50 loss to Oregon State in a game that was close throughout. Jacob also has the box score and video of postgame interviews with a couple players and coach Ernie Kent. ... On the football front, the Cougs signed another defensive back yesterday and Jacob has a blog post and story on that. He also has his morning post with links. ... The Cougars' football team was not very good forcing turnovers last season but they were pretty efficient scoring after them. ... Shorten the shot clock? It's a divisive proposal. ... Former Cougar receiver Michael Bumpus is the new coach at Monroe High. ... The WSU women host Oregon and former Gonzaga coach Kelly Graves tonight.

• Gonzaga: If you watched the Bulldogs last night you saw one of the better unsung efforts of the season by a bench player. Jared Brownridge was keeping the Broncos in the game by himself until newcomer Eric McClellan came off the bench, denied him the ball and put the brakes to the SC offense. Without scoring a point, McClellan turned the tide of the game. After trailing, the Zags went on a run, built a 10-point lead and cruised to a 77-63 victory. Jim Meehan has more in this game story and blog post. He'll also be back today with another blog post on the victory. ... With the Zags in town, the fans and the media turn out. There was a game story in the San Francisco Chronicle and the San Jose Mercury News, something I rarely find about Santa Clara games. ... Pepperdine moved into third place alone with an 80-74 victory over BYU and a sweep of the season series. ... Point guard Christopher Anderson couldn't play for USD due to a bad ankle and the Toreros couldn't keep up with Loyola Marymount, losing 70-61. ... Keani Albanez scored a career-high 22 points in Gonzaga's 76-49 home win over Santa Clara last night. Tom Clouse has the story.

• EWU: Besides Jim Allen's game story from Missoula there is also coverage in the Missoulian, where DeCuire had this quote: "We gave it to them and then when we fought to get it back, we got cheated." ... Jim also has a blog post this morning. ... It was an interesting night in the Big Sky Conference, with a last-second shot forcing overtime in Cedar City but North Dakota came back to win, 89-85. ... The Eastern women upset conference-leading Montana, 65-54.

• Idaho: The Vandals faced a must-win game in Bozeman last night. They won, 80-71 over Montana State.

• Chiefs: Spokane is headed on a long road trip, one that will allow some players a taste of home cooking. Chris Derrick has the story.

• Preps: The GSL regular season came to a close last night and the champions were crowned. On the boys side, Lewis and Clark and Central Valley tied for the title, LC's first-ever GSL boys championship. Greg Lee has the story. Gonzaga Prep won the girls title again. ... We also can over girls and boys roundups from around the area. ... There were more letter of intent signings yesterday.

• Seahawks: The biggest news yesterday? It was either Pete Carroll crying over the Super Bowl defeat, Richard Sherman's new son or the surgeries planned for the Legion of Boom. Anyway you look at it, the news is slowing down. ... The Tacoma News Tribune polled its readers and then put together an all-time Seahawk team. The offense is revealed today. As usual, current players dominate. ... Carroll is doing his best to shoulder the blame for the loss, which should help in the long run. ... It seems as if Carroll has decided on a new defensive coordinator. Or maybe not. ... The season was still filled with highlights and good grades.

• Sounders: Seattle may have given a sneak peek at a new lineup the other day in the friendly against UCLA.

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• Enjoy your Friday. I know I will. See you tomorrow morning. Until then ...

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