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

Eagles land in Big Sky tournament

Men’s basketball: It’s official. Eastern Washington is in the Big Sky Conference tournament.

What’s unknown is where the Eagles will finish in the final standings and where they’ll play their first-round game.

Northern Colorado’s 77-74 win at Idaho State on Monday night, when Chris Kaba blocked a 3-point attempt with 1.5 seconds left, eliminated the Bengals from the playoffs and guaranteed EWU’s spot. Devon Beitzel scored 28 for Northern Colorado.

Going into Wednesday night’s final round of league games, Eastern (9-19, 6-9 Big Sky) and Montana State (12-17, 6-9) are tied for fifth. The Eagles need to win at Weber State (17-10, 11-4) and have Montana State lose at home to Idaho State (9-19, 4-11) for EWU to finish fifth. MSU beat Eastern twice and holds the tiebreaker should they finish tied.

The sixth-place team will play at No. 3 and fifth at No. 4 Northern Arizona, the only school with its position known.

WCC honors Zags’ Carpenter

College baseball: Gonzaga University junior Ryan Carpenter earned West Coast Conference pitcher of the week for his performance against then-No. 8 Texas A&M.

The Peoria, Ariz., native took a no-hitter into the sixth inning on Friday and allowed only one hit in a career-high 7 1/3 innings. He also matched his career high with 10 strikeouts. However, he did not receive a decision in the Bulldogs’ 1-0 loss to the Aggies in 11 innings.

GU women climb a spot to No. 22

Women’s basketball: Gonzaga, which wrapped up a perfect regular season in the WCC over the weekend, has climbed one spot to No. 22 in the Associated Press poll this week.

The Bulldogs play in the WCC tournament semifinals on Sunday at 11 a.m. against either Santa Clara, San Francisco or Portland.

Saint Mary’s is seeded into the other semifinal and will play either Pepperdine, San Diego or Loyola Marymount.

Following the conference tournament, Gonzaga will host NCAA tournament first- and second-round games March 19 and 21.