Vandals hire Lopes as assistant

New University of Idaho men’s basketball coach Don Verlin announced the hiring of assistant coach Ray Lopes on Thursday.

Lopes was named Western Athletic Conference coach of the year in 2003 after leading Fresno State to the regular-season title. He resigned from that position in 2005 based on his involvement in NCAA rules violations in the recruiting process.

“Ray has acknowledged his past mistakes and is ready to move forward,” said Idaho director of athletics Rob Spear in a media release.

Lopes spent a year as a personnel scout for the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs. The past two years, he was an associate coach with the Idaho Stampede of the NBA Development League.

Prior to his stint at Fresno, Lopes spent eight seasons as an assistant at the University of Oklahoma under Kelvin Sampson. Lopes also assisted for Sampson for one season at Washington State.

Baseball

Jared Eskew allowed one hit and struck out seven in 61/3 innings as the Corvallis Knights (5-1) defeated the Spokane RiverHawks 6-0 in West Coast Collegiate Baseball League play at Goss Stadium in Corvallis, Ore.

Logan Lotti went 2 for 3 with a solo home run and Matt Wyckoff was 2 for 4 with two RBIs for the Knights, who won the series 2-1. Spokane (3-3), which was limited to two hits, plays at Bend tonight.

Golf

Ryan Benzel (Ritzville High) of Mill Creek (Wash.) Country Club is tied for third place after one round of the PGA Professional National Championship at Lake Oconee, Ga.

Benzel shot a 4-under-par 68 and is two shots behind Paul Dietsche, the head pro at Arrowhead Country Club in San Bernardino, Calif.

Girls basketball

The annual Washington All-State games, primarily for Class 2A through B athletes, will be Saturday at West Valley High School.

Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for seniors and children age 12 and younger.

Games begin with the B East vs. B West at 1:30 p.m., followed in two-hour intervals by the 1A East vs. 1A West and 2A/3A East vs. 2A/3A West.