Eagles Home, But Life Won’t Get Any Easier

Steve Aggers admits it is nice to be back home.

He only wishes that someone other than Damien Baskerville was waiting on the front doorstep to greet him.

Aggers has had his Eastern Washington men’s basketball team on the road the past two weekends. The Eagles, 8-8 overall and 2-4 in the Big Sky Conference, return to Reese Court on Friday night for the first time since Jan. 5. But Baskerville and his Weber State teammates will be trying to ruin the homecoming when the teams square off at 7:05.

And that’s a scary thought for Aggers, who has been bedeviled by the Wildcats’ senior guard the past two seasons.

“He’s just a really complete player,” Aggers said of the 6-foot-3, 210-pound Baskerville, who was a prep standout at Cass Tech in Detroit. “He’s very athletic and quick, but he’s also strong.

“You have to match up against him with a quick defensive guard that can play him on the perimeter, but if he’s too small a guy, Damien will just put him in the paint and use his strength on him.”

So far, the Eagles have had a nightmarish time trying to guard the Wildcats’ scoring leader.

In his last three games against Eastern, all of which resulted in Weber State wins, Baskerville has averaged 27.3 points, nine rebounds, five assists and 4.3 steals. In the Wildcats’ 97-81 rout of the Eagles on Jan. 10, he scored a career-high 35 points while contributing eight rebounds, four assists and five steals. He made 12 of 16 field-goal tries and all 10 of the free throws he attempted.

“He just had a huge game against us over there,” Aggers recalled. “It was a career game.”

Adding to Eastern’s concerns is the fact that the Wildcats, 7-9 overall, are the hottest team in the Big Sky, having won five consecutive games to earn a share of the league lead with Montana State at 5-1.

“They’re playing as well as anyone in the league right now,” Aggers said. “Obviously, Damien is the key, but I think the reason for their resurgence is getting Andy Jensen healthy.”

Jensen, a 6-7, 230-pound junior center, missed Weber’s first nine games with a broken hand, but since his return the Wildcats are 5-2. In wins over Northern Arizona and Cal State Northridge last week, Jensen scored 23 points and pulled down 25 rebounds to earn Big Sky co-player of the week honors with Idaho State’s Tywan Meadows.

Second-half woes

Eastern Washington hasn’t had much post-intermission success all season. But the Eagles’ second-half problems have been especially maddening against Big Sky opponents. In its six league games, Eastern has been outscored after halftime by an average of 14.7 points per game.

Last Thursday, the Eagles trailed league-leading Montana State only 32-27 at intermission but lost 91-58 after being outscored 61-31 in the second half. Two nights later they led Montana by a point at halftime, but lost 78-66 after another second-half collapse.

3-Pointers

Following a 2-9 start, Weber State has won five consecutive games for the first time since 1995 when the Wildcats went on to win the Big Sky’s regularseason and postseason tournament titles… . Northern Arizona, after leading the nation in 3-point shooting last season, is currently ranked No. 2 - behind Gonzaga University - in that category this year with a percentage of 44.9… . Montana State has held its six Big Sky opponents to 37.4 percent shooting from the field.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Area leaders Scoring Player, school FG-FGA FT-FTA 3pt Avg. Bakari Hendrix, GU 123-221 75-103 2 17.9 Avery Curry, UI 89-202 56-78 14 17.7 Jovann Johnson, NIC 37-78 46-68 1 17.3 Karim Scott, EWU 113-203 42-62 8 17.3 Carlos Daniel, WSU 96-199 70-108 1 16.4 Modesto Spencer, CCS 112-232 45-57 29 17.5 Johnny Goodman, NIC 101-198 27-37 40 15.8 Matt Santangelo, GU 105-231 49-61 40 15.7 Jeff Mix, Whtwth 72-141 32-47 1 14.8 Chris Crosby, WSU 80-158 30-44 31 13.8 Shannon Taylor, EWU 73-191 36-55 37 13.7 Nathaniel Bailey, NIC 83-200 42-67 16 13.2 Ben Heimerman, Whtwth 15-17 20-23 0 12.5 Deon Williams, EWU 65-162 49-72 14 12.1 Greg Jones, Whtwth 51-106 29-38 10 11.8

Rebounding Daniel, WSU, 9.6 (154); Mix, Whtwth, 7.5 (90); Cedrick Day, CCS, 7.1 (121); Scott, EWU, 6.8 (109); Spencer, CCS, 6.0 (102).

Assists Williams, EWU, 5.8 (93); Bailey, NIC, 4.4 (75); Blake Pengelly, WSU, 4.3 (68); Tyler Jordan, Whtwth, 4.3 (51); Santangelo, GU, 4.1 (77).

Steals Bailey, NIC, 3.9 (66); Johnson, NIC, 3.0 (21); Goodman, NIC, 2.4 (40); Curry, UI, 2.3 (32); Scott, EWU, 2.2 (35). Schedule Thursday: Stanford at WSU, 7:30 p.m. (Fox Sports Northwest); Gonzaga at Saint Mary’s, 7:30 p.m.; Colorado Northwestern at NIC, 7:30 p.m.; Idaho at Nevada, 7:35 p.m. Friday: Weber State at EWU, 7:05 p.m.; Seattle at Whitworth, 8 p.m. Saturday: Idaho at Utah State, 6:05 p.m.; Gonzaga at San Diego, 7 p.m. (Fox Sports Northwest); California at WSU, 7:30 p.m. (fx); Eastern Utah at NIC, 7:30 p.m.; Puget Sound at Whitworth, 8 p.m.; CCS at Walla Walla, 8 p.m. Wednesday: Big Bend vs. CCS at SFCC, 8 p.m.

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