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

Eagles, MSU get it started

Surprising teams open Big Sky play

Montana State and Eastern Washington, a pair of men’s basketball teams faring much better in the early season than most expected, will try to build on the momentum they’ve created tonight when they square off at 7:05 at Reese Court in Cheney.

It’s the Big Sky Conference opener for both teams, who were picked in a preseason poll of league coaches to finish near the bottom of the BSC standings.

But MSU, despite returning only one starter from last year’s 15-15 team, is 3-2 in the early going, having posted impressive overtime road wins over Oregon State and Colorado.

Eastern, which is coming off an 11-19 record last winter, is off to a solid 5-2 start, with its two losses having come on the road against Illinois and Minnesota.

“Both teams have played well so far,” EWU’s second-year coach Kirk Earlywine said. “It should be an interesting game.”

Earlywine, whose Eagles knocked off Portland 63-58 in Portland on Wednesday night, would like to think his team has a bit of a motivational edge after losing both of last year’s games against the Bobcats by a combined total of 12 points. As a result, MSU finished 7-9 in conference play and earned the sixth and final berth in the Big Sky tournament over Eastern, which finished 6-10.

“I think we owe them one,” Earlywine said.

To avenge last year’s defeats, the Eagles will have to deal with a trio of major concerns Earlywine has about the Bobcats.

MSU features a balanced scoring attack, one of the league’s top big men in 6-foot-9 senior center Divaldo Mbunga and a trio of rangy, active perimeter players in sophomore forward Bobby Howard, sophomore guard Erik Rush and junior guard Will Bynum, who can all get to the basket.

Howard leads the Bobcats in scoring with an average of 15.2 points per game. Mbunga is averaging 13.0 points and a team-high 6.4 rebounds.

“There are three things that really concern me about Montana State,” Earlywine said. “One is their offensive rebounding – they’re averaging 15 of them a game. Another is their three perimeter guys and their ability to drive the basketball. And the third is the post play of Mbunga.

“They have a lot of different ways to score, and we’re going to have our hands full trying to defend them.”

The Eagles, however, lead the Big Sky in scoring defense, having allowed an average of 67.7 points per game.

They boast one of the league’s most exciting players in junior point guard Benny Valentine, who is averaging 19.6 points per game.

Junior forward Brandon Moore is averaging 11.3 points and a team-best 7.9 rebounds for Eastern, and senior shooting guard Milan Stanojevic is averaging 10.1 points.