Front-Running Ewu Not Ready To Claim Title

For someone who has never been there, Steve Aggers certainly knows the right things to say as he tries to deflect attention from the bullseye on the collective chest of his Eastern Washington men’s basketball team. It’s not an easy thing to do, considering the Eagles, 10-9 overall, are sitting alone atop the Big Sky Conference standings with an impressive 7-2 record that has made believers out of many early season doubters. But Aggers, who is in his fifth season at Eastern, is trying.

“We’re playing very well right now,” he admitted following Saturday’s surprisingly lopsided 91-61 home win over Portland State.

“But there are seven games left in league play. We’re excited to be in first place, but we also are focused on knowing there are a half-dozen teams that can still win this race.” That might sound strictly like coach-speak, yet it’s difficult to argue with Aggers’ assessment.

Eastern, which faces a tough rematch against PSU (4-5) in Portland on Friday without suspended forward Will Levy, is nursing a slim one-game lead over Cal State Northridge (6-3) and Montana (6-3). Pre-season favorite and defending champion Weber State (6-4) is another half-game back, and Northern Arizona (5-4) is only two games off the lead.

PSU and Montana State, both 4-5, are longshots, but neither has been mathematically eliminated.

Still, Eastern has to be considered the mid-season favorite, having gone 3-2 on the road earlier in the year. The Eagles own an important road win over Weber State and play four of their last seven league games at Reese Court, where they are 4-0.

Of the two teams just a game behind EWU, Montana would seem to be the biggest threat, having won four straight. Northridge has won four of its last five, but the Matadors have struggled since senior forward Andre Larry quit the team three games back.

The 6-foot-9 Larry, who was averaging 13.9 points and 5.1 rebounds, cited personal problems as the reason behind his departure. And while the Matadors are 2-1 since he left, they haven’t exactly dominated. In those three games, they have beaten eighth-place Cal State Sacramento (79-67) and last-place Idaho State (79-77) at home, while losing to Weber State (113-92) on the road. Weber remains a legitimate threat to make a late-season run and successfully defend its regular-season title, but anyone looking for a darkhorse candidate might want to consider Northern Arizona.

The Lumberjacks, despite opening conference play with four consecutive road losses, have won five in row and will play five of their last seven at home.

And, as Aggers so properly notes, “There’s a lot of basketball left.”

Back-to-back? Big deal

For the second time in five games, Gonzaga University faces a back-to-back road rematch against an opponent it beat soundly at home.

It’s not the best of schedule breaks. But if you have to do it, you might as well do it against the worst Division-I team in the country - which is what the West Coast Conference-leading Bulldogs (18-5, 9-0) will do Friday night when they face Loyola Marymount (2-19, 0-8) in Gersten Pavilion.

GU, which has won 10 in row to move within a whisker of breaking back into the Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today top-25 polls, beat the pathetic Lions 103-56 in Martin Centre last Saturday and it’s unlikely a simple shift of venue will alter the outcome.

The Bulldogs have beaten LMU, which is 0-19 against Division I opponents, nine straight times and 13 of 14.

The only case that can be made for the Lions is that GU might be looking past them to Saturday’s huge rematch against second-place Pepperdine (17-6, 8-1). Pepperdine fell to the Bulldogs 62-57 in Martin Centre last Thursday after leading by 15 points early in the second half.

But don’t count on it.

3-pointers

Portland State’s center and leading scorer, Ime Udoka,, who played only 11 minutes in last Saturday’s loss at Eastern Washington because of back problems, remains questionable for Friday night’s rematch in Portland… . Gonzaga’s home-court winning streak of 20 games is the 8th-longest active streak in the country… . GU’s Matt Santangelo needs just nine assists to become the fourth WCC player to reach 600… . The Big Sky leads all Division-I conferences in 3-point field-goal percentage (.375) and ranks second in 3-pointers made per game (6.9)… . When Gonzaga’s Richie Frahm was named the WCC’s player of the month for January, it marked the fifth straight season a Bulldog has been so honored.