Fast Break
NBA
Blazers will retire two No. 30s
The Portland Trail Blazers will retire the No. 30 jersey twice in December, honoring Terry Porter and Bobby Gross.
Only two other NBA jerseys have been retired on behalf of two players, according to the Blazers. New York retired No. 15 in honor of Dick McGuire and Earl Monroe, while Boston retired No. 18, worn by Dave Cowens and Jim Loscutoff.
Porter’s jersey will be raised to the rafters Dec. 16, when the Blazers host the Sacramento Kings. Gross will be honored Dec. 18 during the game against the Phoenix Suns.
Porter (shown above) is the head coach of the Suns. He was a two-time All-Star and played for Portland from 1985-95, averaging 14.9 points and seven assists. He is the franchise’s career assists leader with 5,319.
Gross started for Portland’s 1977 NBA championship team. He played seven seasons with the Blazers (1975-82), averaging 9.2 points.
Women’s basketball
Area women tip off tonight
Three of the four area teams tip off their season tonight, but only Gonzaga is at home.
The Bulldogs face Eastern Oregon at 6 p.m. at McCarthey Athletic Center. The Mountaineers feature four local players with two, junior Selena Leavitt (Central Valley) and freshman Kyle Miller (Cheney), expected to start. Junior Ashlee Michelson (North Central/CCS) and Alyssa Garro (Pullman) are also on the roster.
Idaho is at Texas Tech and Eastern Washington is at Nevada. Washington State opens Sunday at Texas Tech, the same day Gonzaga is back in action at Washington.
Men’s basketball
Eastern men open tonight at Illinois
Year Two of the Kirk Earlywine Era of Eastern Washington University officially opens tonight when the Eagles take on Illinois in a non-conference game that tips off at 6:30 at Assembly Hall in Champaign-Urbana, Ill.
Eastern, which finished 11-19 in Earlywine’s first season as a collegiate head coach last winter, will be without its leading returning scorer, Adris DeLeon, who has been declared academically ineligible by the NCAA, and promising junior college transfer Chris Busch, who is still awaiting a grade on a correspondence course.
“I’d be happy if we had all our players – that would be a great start,” Earlywine said in looking toward tonight’s matchup against an Illinois team that finished 16-19 overall and 5-12 in the Big Ten Conference last season. “There is just no way we can be totally ready, in my eyes, to play Illinois with the five fewer days to practice this year and the time players have missed with injuries.”
This will be the first meeting between the schools. Eastern Washington is 0-5 against Big Ten teams.
Idaho also opens today, at 7 p.m. at home in Memorial Gym against Evergreen State.