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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Best show in town



 (The Spokesman-Review)
John Blanchette The Spokesman-Review

This goes against all that is holy in Spokane, but on any given basketball night the most entertaining player in town doesn’t do his thing in front of the TV lights and 6,000 worshipers in the new $23 million arena.

Of course, that’s an in-the-eye-of-the-beholder declaration. And sometimes there are less than a couple hundred on hand to behold Jeremy Mangum.

Smart shoppers.

Sure, it’s juco basketball – Mangum is the point guard for the Community Colleges of Spokane – and in the marketplace of college hoops, the jukes are to Division I what the Boom-Boom Room is to Caesars Palace. Which is not to say you can’t stumble into a good show at the Boom-Boom Room, or a big-time talent.

Best of all in this case, while Mangum is a show unto himself, he’s hardly the whole show – and doesn’t aspire to be.

“We’ve got so many different guys who can have a hot hand on different nights,” he said, “I just try to get them the ball.”

The Sasquatch are 18-6, on a pace for their most victories in 20 years, and ranked third in the latest Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges poll. That’s a pretty steep improvement curve for third-year head coach Eric Hughes, whose first two CCS teams went 10-15 and 16-13 – although the second one might have been a little better than that.

“Our first two years, we struggled because we didn’t have a point guard,” said Hughes, a former assistant at Washington, California and Illinois State. “Last year we lost four games by two points or less because we’d turn it over or wouldn’t get the shot we wanted when we needed it.”

It was hardly a wonder, then, that Hughes and his staff zeroed in on an incredible little assist machine from Davis High School in Yakima as the difference-maker they so desperately needed.

By way of comparison, already four of CCS’ eight Eastern Region victories have come by three points or less.

“In two or three of those, Jeremy’s made some sort of play at the end,” Hughes said. “In our first (conference) game against Yakima, he penetrated and they had to help off him and he got it to Joel Ryman and he made a 3 to win it.”

And winning counts. But the fact is, the winning’s a lot more fun when the guy “driving the bus,” as Hughes puts it, has a penchant for taking the scenic route.

Just 5-foot-9, Mangum has a con man’s hands – and guts – and a hummingbird’s motor, and matched with his extraordinary court vision, it makes for some memorable theater.

The pass or the dribble might go through an opponent’s legs – former Gonzaga yeoman Ryan Floyd was victimized in such a manner in a summer exhibition at Spokane Falls, to the delight of about 3,200 customers. The steal is likely to occur before even the ballhandler knows it. The drives to the hoop among players a foot taller are always improbable.

The numbers? Well, they’re remarkable, too. Mangum is the Sasquatch’s No. 2 scorer at 13.7 points a game, but he’s also their leading rebounder (5.6) – remember he’s 5-9 – and the NWAACC leader in both assists (8.7) and steals (2.9). In fact, he’s nearly 100 assists ahead of the No. 2 man, old Big Nine rival James York of Columbia Basin, and he’s just 48 short of Erv Terry’s 30-year-old single-season CCS record of 247.

“I’d rather have double-figures in assists than points,” said Mangum, who’s had nine of those games this season. “I’ve just always been the passing type. I kind of learned that my junior year in high school. I scored a lot that season, but we didn’t go to state and my coach told me that for us to go to state, I needed to average a double-double.

“So it’s important to get my teammates the ball. Without them, I can’t do anything.”

But he can, in fact, do a little of everything, and often it leaves Hughes mesmerized.

At Treasure Valley, Mangum had a triple double that included 15 – 15! – rebounds. When leading scorer Kyle Janke missed the Yakima rematch, Mangum responded with 24 points.

“And the other night against Wenatchee, we couldn’t make shots and it seemed like they were making everything,” said Hughes, “but he has eight steals – their guards couldn’t get the ball up the floor.”

So how did this little ball of wonderful wind up at CCS? Hughes acknowledged that, as an NCAA non-qualifier academically, Mangum was being pursued by pretty much the entire NWAACC pack, along with JCs with more national profiles.

“Well, I think that was basically my decision,” said his mother, Christine Gilmore.

“I’m kind of a mama’s boy,” Mangum laughed in agreement.

Mama lives in Pasco and Mangum liked the idea of going to CBC. Gilmore liked the idea of him getting away but “not just to a school that wanted him, but to a place that needed him. If someone just wants you, they might let you fall through the cracks. If they need you, they’ll make sure you’re on top of your game all around – and not just basketball, but school and everything else.

“Plus, I didn’t want him so far away that I couldn’t still see him play. Sheridan, Wyoming? I don’t think so.”

As a player with Division I ambitions, Mangum will find it harder to get seen in the NWAACC – Hughes himself acknowledged that in nine years as a UW assistant, he never went to one NWAACC regular season game to recruit. But by the same token, Nate Breshears – a freshman on last year’s CCS team – was snatched away by Boise State. The good ones get seen.

“He’s got to get stronger and develop a better shot,” Hughes said, “but he’s good enough.

“I coached Jason Kidd his freshman year at Cal and our radio guy used to say that Jason could dominate a game without scoring a point. Now, obviously this isn’t that level and we’re not talking about Jason Kidd, but Jeremy shows me the same thing – dominating without scoring. And that’s a special talent.”

And an entertaining one, no matter how many behold it.