Calvary Will Test His Ankle Tonight Against Portland

Gonzaga University’s Casey Calvary will play in tonight’s 7:30 Martin Centre showdown against Portland, but his availability could be severely limited.

“We just don’t know how much he will play or how effective he will be,” Bulldogs coach Dan Monson said of his starting forward, who sprained his right ankle in last Thursday’s 105-78 rout of Loyola Marymount.

Calvary, a 6-foot-8 sophomore, who leads the West Coast Conference in rebounding with an average of 8.2 per game, watched Saturday’s 83-52 win over Pepperdine in street clothes. He did not practice Monday.

“It’s getting better,” Monson said of Calvary’s ankle, “but its still tender, especially when he tries to cut on it.

“His game is built around his explosiveness, and without that he is not going to be as effective.” Calvary’s spot in the starting lineup will probably be filled once again by 6-11 junior Axel Dench, who had 16 points and nine rebounds against LMU and nine points and three boards against Pepperdine.

“I think our team is making some strides,” Monson said of his Bulldogs, who are 12-4 overall and tied for first place in the WCC at 2-0. “I don’t think we would have been able to perform on all cylinders like that a month ago without Casey Calvary.”

Frahm honored

GU’s Richie Frahm, who averaged 20 points a game and shot 63.6 percent from the field in wins over LMU and Pepperdine, has been named the Rawling/West Coast Conference player of the week. Frahm, a 6-5 junior guard, made 3 of 5 3 pointers against LMU and finished with 21 points. He scored 19 against Pepperdine and joined teammates Calvary and Jeremy Eaton on this year’s list of WCC players of the week.

Oh, brothers

In the 20 years since the WCC went to its current eight-team alignment, brothers have never played on the same team. But this season, two sets - Eric and Daniel Sandrin of Portland and Jamie and Kevin Holmes - are on the same roster.

Waiting for Millard

Saint Mary’s (8-9, 1-1) continues to struggle without 7-foot-3 center Brian Millard, who is still hamped by the fractured foot that limited him to just two games last season.

Millard, who weighs 350 pounds, is the biggest Division I player in the country. He averaged 12.1 points per game and was an All-WCC selection as a sophomore in 1996-97.

There were initial fears he might miss the entire season, but doctors have cleared him to begin running on the foot again and Gaels coach Dave Bollwinker is still hopeful of having his big guy back on the floor by early February.

3-pointers

San Diego, after a 74-47 victory over San Francisco, has won 10 or more games 10 years in a row - the longest such streak in the WCC… . Gonzaga has climbed to No. 24 in the USA Today-Sagarin ratings and No. 28 in the USA Today coaches poll… . The Bulldogs are 88-8 at Martin Centre the past eight seasons… . After missing six games with an ankle injury, Loyola Marymount’s 5-4 point guard, Haywood Eaddy - the shortest player ever to compete in the WCC - has raised his scoring average to 10.2 ppg and leads the league in free-throw shooting (21 of 22)… . Saint Mary’s leads the nation in 3 pointers per game (10.1) and is well above the WCC record of 9.3 set by the run-and-gun Loyola Marymount teams of 1989 and 1990.

AREA MEN’S LEADERS Scoring Player, school FG-FGA FT-FTA 3pt Avg. Johnny Goodman, NIC 99-211 16-24 58 20.9 Jon Chatfield, CCS 81-162 33-47 33 19.0 Richie Frahm, GU 90-205 30-40 48 16.1 Chris Crosby, WSU 77-174 41-48 29 16.0 Jan-Michael Thomas, WSU 60-130 32-38 49 15.5 Gordon Scott, UI 60-152 33-40 31 15.3 Greg Jones, Whwth 61-108 45-62 8 14.6 Shannon Taylor, EWU 58-164 25-34 39 13.8 Avery Curry, UI 58-170 31-51 18 13.8 Tyler Jordan, Whwth 52-99 36-44 18 13.2 Kojo Mensah-Bonsu, WSU 63-148 57-99 0 13.1 Deon Williams, EWU 58-137 32-51 19 12.8 Matt Santangelo, GU 67-179 38-51 30 12.6 James Kiger, CCS 65-144 19-26 10 12.2 Nick Beamis, CCS 35-89 7-13 30 11.9

Rebounding Casey Calvary, GU, 8.2 (123); Jason Keep, NIC, 7.7 (100); Goodman, NIC, 7.2 (94); Reggie Battee, NIC, 6.9 (90); Mensah-Bonsu, WSU, 6.7 (94).

Assists Curry, UI, 5.1 (61); Williams, EWU, 5.0 (65); Santangelo, GU, 4.7 (75); Danny Huston, CCS, 4.0 (52); Jordan, Whwth, 4.0 (48).

Steals Jordan, Whwth, 2.2 (26); Chris Allen, CCS, 2.1 (27); Scott, UI, 2.0 (24); Curry, UI, 1.9 (23); Goodman, NIC, 1.9 (25).

SCHEDULE Today: Portland at Gonzaga, 7:30 p.m.; Yakima Valley vs. CCS at SCC, 8 p.m. Thursday: Oregon at Washington State, 7 p.m.; Cal State Northridge at Eastern Washington; Cal State Fullerton at Idaho, 7:05 p.m.; Southern Idaho at North Idaho, 7:30 p.m. Saturday: Oregon State at Washington State, 3 p.m.; Gonzaga at Portland, 5 p.m.; Weber State at EWU; UC Irvine at Idaho, 7:05 p.m.; Treasure Valley at NIC, 7:30 p.m.; Whitman at Whitworth; CCS at Blue Mountain, 8 p.m.