Jim Allen

The Spokane Shock players were back in full pads Tuesday morning, but not in their comfort zone. That was stripped away last season, the first one in franchise history that didn’t end in the Arena Football League playoffs.

The Spokane Shock players were back in full pads Tuesday morning, but not in their comfort zone. That was stripped away last season, the first one in franchise history that didn’t end in the Arena Football League playoffs.

No stain, no gain. Basketball player Sam Dower got the message during his freshman year at Gonzaga University from Robert Sacre, the big man on campus with an outsized personality to match.

Troy Huff scored a career-high 34 points, including a game-sealing three-point play with 7 seconds left, to give North Dakota a 78-74 victory over Eastern Washington on Saturday afternoon.

There’s already plenty on the line Saturday at Reese Court, including the last game for four Eastern Washington seniors and a chance for guard Jeffrey Forbes to equal the school record for game appearances.

Eastern Washington lost its grip on the basketball Thursday night, and perhaps the season. The Eagles lost the ball 22 times in a costly 88-80 overtime defeat against Northern Colorado at Reese Court, and are now grasping at a slim chance of reaching the Big Sky Conference tournament. With three games left in the regular season, the Eagles (6-11 in the Big Sky and 9-19 overall) probably need to win them all to reach the tournament, and that includes a difficult season finale at Weber State.

The education of Venky Jois in the ways of American basketball began last fall. In Canada. The stamps on his Australian passport were barely dry when Jois joined his new Eastern Washington teammates for his first game – a week-long road trip through British Columbia that came on the heels of his amateur season, which followed a high school career that ended in 2011.

The education of Venky Jois in the ways of American basketball began last fall. In Canada.

REARDAN, Wash. – Sometimes it’s good to go against the grain. Eastern Washington wheat towns have been taking a hit for years, but Reardan has bucked the trend. The population has held steady at 600 and business is good. It doesn’t hurt that Spokane is half an hour away. Not so this week, when Spokane will suck the economic life out eastern Lincoln County, along with many of its residents.

Collin Chiverton scored 20 points, Jeffrey Forbes hit a big shot to reach a career milestone, and Eastern Washington held off BracketBusters foe Sam Houston State 81-76 on Saturday afternoon in Cheney.

Maury Ray left a mark of excellence during three-plus decades as athletic director at the Community Colleges of Spokane. Now he’ll do the same for Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges, which last week put his name on its new all-sports trophy.

By any measure, Eastern Washington earned a benchmark win Saturday afternoon at Reese Court. The Eagles’ 86-72 Big Sky Conference men’s basketball victory over third-place Southern Utah was fashioned by superb shooting, toughness and, above all, by a bench that’s looking deeper by the game.

Collin Chiverton scored 18 points and Parker Kelly had 15 as Eastern Washington defeated Southern Utah 86-72 Saturday.

The NCAA made a fashion statement Wednesday, and Eastern Washington was quick to pick up the fabric of the conversation. The NCAA tackled the issue of uniforms, specifically requiring teams to have either their jersey or pants contrast in color to their home playing field.

The NCAA has tackled the issue of uniforms, specifically requiring teams to have either their jersey or pants contrast in color to their home playing field. The main target was Boise State’s all-blue uniforms on its famous Smurf Turf, but the controversy has already bled to Cheney, home of Eastern Washington’s Inferno.

Wade Gebbers has always been big on fundamentals. His life is a three-man weave of faith, family and basketball that’s carried him through four standout seasons at Whitworth University, and soon will carry him back home to Brewster with a family of his own.