Eastern hoops traveling in some rarified air

A GRIP ON SPORTS

You may not know it, but there are two major college basketball teams in this area with just one defeat. And one did something last night that’s been tough for the other one to accomplish recently. Read on.

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• In the last five season, the Gonzaga Bulldogs have dominated the basketball news around here. And rightfully so. But in that time frame, the Zags have struggled in one place: USF’s War Memorial Gym. From 2010 to 2012, Gonzaga lost three consecutive trips to the ancient building, triggering three consecutive court-rushes by the Don fans. The last two seasons, though, GU has righted the ship and handled the Dons in San Francisco. Still, it’s the only spot in the WCC the Zags are under .500 after having played there the last five years. We’re passing along that statistic not to denigrate the Zags at all, but to illustrate how tough it is to win on the Dons’ home court, even for the gold standard of Inland Northwest college hoop. And that’s where Eastern Washington comes in. The Eagles traveled through a rainstorm for the ages last night and came out the other side victorious. OK, it wasn’t raining inside Memorial Gym – anything except whistles aimed at the visiting team, with USF shooting 30 free throws – but it certainly was outside. The Bay Area was hit with a Pineapple Express that dumped more water on the area than it’s seen in three years – seemingly combined. The pelting rain caused power outages and school closures, and putting Thursday night’s game on the endangered list for a while. But, despite the chaos in the area, all was calm in the gym for the Eagles, especially in the first half. Behind their usual potent outside-shooting attack, they built a 10-point lead at intermission. Then the sky fell in (figuratively), with USF rallying in the second half to take a lead. In Jim Hayford’s first three years in Cheney that might have been it, the end of the road and the end of the Eagles’ winning streak. Not this season. The upper-classmen-heavy Eagles calmly rallied back, getting a key three-point play from junior Venky Jois and two key three-point shots from senior Parker Kelly to weather the storm and pull out an 81-76 non-conference victory . The win raised Eastern’s record to 8-1, its best start at the NCAA Division I level. The Eagles have won at home, they’ve won on the road. They’ve won in routs, they’ve won tight games. Mainly, they’ve just found a way to win. The groundwork Hayford has laid in Cheney is starting to pay dividends. The Eagles are experienced at all the important spots, including point guard where senior Drew Brandon, limited a bit right now with a squeaky back, sets the tone. Wing Tyler Harvey is one of the best scorers in the Northwest while Jois and Kelly bring toughness inside and out, respectively. It’s the type of team that can play with just about anybody, despite the light pedigree EWU basketball has in national circles. It proved it in Indiana earlier this season. It proved it again last night. And the Eagles have another chance to prove it Sunday when they visit No. 17 Washington. It will be their toughest test thus far, surpassing the trip to then-17th-ranked SMU (their only loss) and the Indiana challenge. The Huskies are playing well. They defend, they are long and strong and they will be on their home court. It’s the type of game in which young teams fold. Veteran teams? They see the opportunity for growth. For making a mark. For just getting another win.

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• WSU: Jacob Thorpe took some time yesterday looking back at the defeat against Gonzaga, which probably wasn’t a whole heck of a lot of fun. He took some time early this morning to put together his morning post with links. Again, not all that much fun. But who said work was supposed to be fun anyway? … ESPN.com’s Pac-12 blog put together its all-conference team . WSU’s Vince Mayle made first team. Now, that’s fun. Oh, and there is a mailbag . Fun as well. … Marcus Mariota basically swept all the major offensive honors last night on ESPN’s made-for-ratings awards show.

• Gonzaga: Jim Meehan also looked back at the Gonzaga win over the Cougars which means, by my count, there were three retrospectives on one game on this blog yesterday. I’m not sure the discovery of fire was covered as intensely, though my distant relative, Ooog, did hammer out a blog post – literally. … If there is one main challenger for Gonzaga in the WCC this season it’s more than likely BYU. But the Cougars are having some trouble inside right now, and that doesn’t bode well for the matchup with GU.

• EWU: With the big playoff game this Saturday, Jim Allen wasn’t able to cover the basketball game last night. He does have this story on the Eagles’ long snapper, however, in advance of Saturday’s showdown with Illinois State. … Jim also held a live chat yesterday and posted the full transcript . … We mentioned the 30 free throws USF shot up above. The Dons inability to convert those chances is the main subject of this story .

• Idaho: The Vandals suffered through a long drought at Western Illinois and burped up a 17-point lead en route to a 78-75 defeat . Sean Kramer has more in this blog post . … Sean also has a post on Austin Rehkow coming up short in the Ray Guy Award voting.

• Chiefs: Spokane travels to Portland for a game tonight, the same night the Tri-City Americans will host their annual Teddy Bear Toss against Seattle. … Everett has relied on its goaltender to win shootouts.

• Preps: We’re still in full wrestling mode, with Greg Lee putting together this preview of the leagues in the area and covering Mead’s stunningly large win over North Central. … We can also pass along a roundup of basketball and gymnastics action from Thursday night.

• Seahawks: A couple of days ago defensive end David King was on Cincinnati’s practice squad. Today he’s getting ready to play for the Hawks against San Francisco. And, yes, he’s pretty happy about that. … When in doubt, do a feature on the players’ shoes . … Doug Baldwin needs more descriptive words . Angry, by itself, just isn’t cutting it anymore. … Russell Wilson just wants to continue to learn. … Michael Bennett is playing more snaps. He’s fine with it. … The way Frank Gore described Bobby Wagner continues to elicit chuckles around the league. … The Hawks injury report was short once again. … Pete Carroll’s personality is so infectious it has spread to the NBA .

• Mariners: So the M’s didn’t sign any big names or make any big trades – they did pick up a player in the Rule 5 draft – at the Winter Meetings. That doesn’t mean they aren’t still looking . But will they make a deal? The Dodgers traded Matt Kemp (and $32 million) to the Padres and received a marginal catcher and a couple of pitching prospects in return. The M’s had that to offer , didn’t they?

• Sounders: The MLS seemingly holds more drafts than the U.S. did in 1968.

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• Another Friday morning. As far as I am concerned, the weekends can’t get here fast enough. And I don’t even work anymore. Until later …