One more stop on Eagles’ trip
Two down, one to go.
That’s road games for the Eastern Washington men’s basketball team before it plays its first home game on Wednesday.
The Eagles are at Denver at 1 this afternoon to face the Pioneers and former Ferris standout Erik Benzel.
Eastern is 1-1 under first-year coach Mike Burns, the win coming Monday at Cal Poly, 76-61.
The Eagles and Pioneers have played the last two seasons, each winning at home. In both games Benzel, now a senior, scored 17 points. EWU won 77-73 last year despite guard Rodney Billups scoring 24 points on 10-of-12 shooting for Denver.
“They are an experienced team that plays very hard and very well together,” Burns said. “They have a very good and experienced backcourt so it will be a challenge to contain Billips and Benzel. They also have size and athleticism inside so we’ll have to work hard to keep them off the glass.”
Billups, younger brother of 2004 NBA Finals MVP Chauncey Billups of the Detroit Pistons, averaged 10.4 points last year. Benzel averaged 14.4.
Denver, 1-1 after losing to Kansas State on Wednesday, plays at Eastern on Dec. 18.
The Pioneers were 1-0 prior to facing Kansas State on Wednesday.
Senior forward Marc Axton leads the Eagles with 38 points in two games. Sophomore forward Matt Nelson has 22 points and 20 rebounds. Junior point guard Danny Pariseau and true freshman Jake Beitinger each have 20 points.
However, the Eagles are a little short-handed after redshirt freshman wing Henry Bekkering injured a shoulder at Cal Poly and junior college transfer Tim Scheffler has not returned from a preseason knee injury.
“We’ve had some injuries – we’re thinner than (160-pound) Danny Pariseau on the perimeter right now,” Burns said. “It was great to have our guys step up and get things done like they did against Cal Poly. But we need the bodies right now. We might have to tape Henry’s arm to his torso and he can play one-handed.”
Pariseau, Deuce Smith and sophomore Eric Henkel area the starters but the only healthy backups now are senior walk-on Rachi Wortham and true freshman James Loe. Burns might move Axton to small forward.
After today’s game, the Eagles return home and face Cascade Wednesday at Reese Court.