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Eastern forward suspended

Derek Risper, front, has seen less playing time in Big Sky games. (Dan Pelle / The Spokesman-Review)
By Dave Trimmer davetrimmer@yahoo.com
Derek Risper, front, has seen less playing time in Big Sky games. (Dan Pelle / The Spokesman-Review)

MISSOULA – Derek Risper, a backup forward on the Eastern Washington basketball team, has been suspended.

“He was sent home for disciplinary reasons,” Eagles coach Mike Burns said Friday afternoon. “It’s an indefinite suspension for violation of team rules. We’ll address it when we get home.”

Risper, a 6-foot-8 senior from Moreno Valley, Calif., did not travel with the team from Bozeman, where the Eagles lost a critical Big Sky Conference game to Montana State, 84-67 Thursday night.

Eastern (11-12, 5-6 Big Sky) plays at Montana tonight, another crucial game for a team in seventh place. Only six teams make the conference tournament. EWU has not missed that tournament since 1997.

Risper played 12 minutes against Montana State but did not score. He had two rebounds.

He entered the game averaging 6.6 points and 4.1 rebounds in 17 minutes a game. He started 13 games. In conference games, however, he was averaging just 12 minutes, 4.6 points and 3.2 rebounds.

Last season, his first after transferring from Saddleback (Calif.) Community College, Risper averaged 2.3 points and 3.8 rebounds in 16 minutes. He started eight of 30 games.

Burns also took the unusual step of closing Friday night’s practice to prepare for the Grizzlies (11-11, 5-4), another team with high expectations that has been struggling.

“I apologize for the inconvenience,” he said, “but we have to get after it.”

The Eagles had their second-worst shooting night of the season in Bozeman, making just 20 of 49 shots. Meanwhile, the Bobcats had their best shooting night at 50 percent, including 12 of 20 from 3-point range.

“Hopefully, we can rebound,” Burns said after the game. “This team has been able to do that all year long when faced with this situation. We’ll try to do that again on Saturday.”

This is Eastern’s last conference road trip. On the previous four trips the Eagles went 1-1. Overall Eastern is 4-10 on the road. The Eagles have also gone 1-1 on the two conference weekends. They have not won more than two straight or lost more than two straight all season. They have now lost two straight.

Last year the Eagles went 6-1 at home and 3-5 on the road to finish third in the Big Sky. They were picked third by the coaches and the media in the preseason poll.