Sunday locals: Match Burnham catches on at Carroll

Match Burnham is just a freshman on the men’s basketball team at Carroll College, but he’s already set the bar high for himself.

The 6-foot-8 forward from Liberty has scored career highs in the Saints’ last two games, capped by a 39-point outing Thursday in an 88-80 victory at Rocky Mountain that included a school-record 19 free throws on 19 attempts. The previous record was 18.

In an 83-77 win over Montana State-Northern the previous weekend, Burnham scored 24, eclipsing the 23 he had scored twice earlier this season. He’s averaging 12.7 points a game for the 17-5, NAIA 13th-ranked Saints.

“I definitely feel like coach put me in a good situation,” Burnham said. “We worked a lot with coach this week and my teammates had a lot of trust and confidence in me.”

As for his perfection at the free-throw line, he added: “I have a saying when I step up to the line: ‘All day, all day,’ so I don’t think about it. It comes through practice and it just worked out tonight.”

“It was neat to see the fellas unselfishly look for Match, aware that he was feeling a special kind of rhythm,” coach Carson Cunningham said in his postgame comments.

Burnham hit 8 of 16 shots from the field, including 4 of 7 3-pointers on Thursday.

Bowling

The lanes at Bumpers were ripe for the picking, and the Junior Bowlers Tour bowlers did the picking last Sunday.

A handful of 900-plus four-game series highlighted the day’s scoring. When it was all over, Clint Norlen had turned consistency and a hot hand into the championship.

Norlen put together 918 and 974 series during the two rounds of qualifying, highlighted by a 269 game, and carried the No. 1 seed into the five-player roll-offs, then waited for a challenger. That turned out to be John Hilden, whose 924 series during the match-play portion of qualifying earned him the No. 2 seed. Norlen won 236-208.

Jake VanStralen finished third, Toby Mertens was fourth and Wyatt Rosenau, who opened the day with a 937 series, was fifth.

Grace Martin had high game of the day for the girls, a 231.

The next JBT will be the finals at Deer Park Lanes on Feb. 14 and will have an extended format of five games for both qualifying sets. The season-ending fun tournament will be Feb. 28 at Valley Bowl.

College scene

Seniors were the special guests, but it was some of the underclassmen who received most of the awards at the Eastern Washington football awards banquet last weekend.

Tight end Zach Wimberly was the Special Teams Player of the Year, linebacker Miquiyah Zamora was the Defensive Player of the Year and All-America wide receiver Cooper Kupp was the Offensive Player of the Year. All are juniors.

Safety Mitch Fettig was the Freshman of the Year, and linebacker Trevor Davis Jr. on defense and tight end Jayce Gilder on offense were the Scout Team Players of the Year. Both also are freshmen.

Senior tight end Jake Withnell was given the Pat Roberts Memorial Award, in memory of one of the Eagles’ most loyal supports, for academic and athletic excellence. And former Eagle Tony Brooks received the Tom Oswald Award, honoring the late former Cheney High School coach, for following Oswald’s creed and “doing the right thing” for youth. Brooks, an All-Big Sky receiver from 1990-93, lives in Tacoma.

Zamora, Kupp and seniors Aaron Neary and Todd Raynes received the team captain awards.

Deja Svastisalee, a Western Washington sophomore from North Central, ran the third leg on the Vikings’ women’s 4x100 relay team that placed second in the TrackTown USA High Performance Meet in Portland on Friday in 4 minutes, 1.51 seconds, ninth fastest in school history.

Letters of intent

Eastern Washington women’s soccer: Hadley Bezon, GK, Maple Valley, Washington (Tahoma); Johanna Di Lulo, D, Boise; Brooke Dunbar, F, Santa Rosa, California; Jordan Lemieux, D, Bothell, Washington (Inglemoor); Saige Lyons, F, Puyallup, Washington; and Erin Zetterberg, D, Renton, Washington (Hazen).

Washington State women’s soccer: Emele Chaddock, F, Mukilteo, Washington (Kamiak); Jordyn DiCintio, MF, San Diego; Katie Jones, F, Corona, California; McKenna Sullivan, F, Las Vegas; Raven Sweeney, MF, Corona, California; Morgan Weaver, F, University Place, Washington (Curtis); Holly Rothering, MF, Mill Creek, Washington (Snohomish). Enrolled in January 2016 – Amy Neal, F, Los Alamos, New Mexico, transfer from Tennessee; and Tarah Patterson, MF, Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Gonzaga women’s soccer: Alyssa Andrade, D, Nobleton, Ontario; Tia Beck, MF, Woodinville, Washington (Eastside Catholic); Maddie Cooley, MF, Mill Creek, Washington (Henry Jackson); Madeline Gotta, D, San Diego; Samantha Heilman, F, Richland; Taylor Kernion, F/MF, Vancouver, Washington (Skyview); Marissa Kneisel, F, Santa Clarita, California; Sophia Viviano, F, Lake Forest, Washington (Shorecrest); Brooke Weedman, D, Sammamish, Washington (Eastside Catholic).

Central Washington football: Ridge Montgomery, WR, Moses Lake.