EWU Eagle Eye Links for Friday 3-30-12

Jordan Hickert goes for the block
photo from the Spokesman Review

Good Morning Eagle Fans and welcome to Friday!  Its that Spring break time of year and the Eagle news is a bit slow, but we'll find a way to keep your days lively and at the least well read.  Of course if you have a link that should be shared or an EWU Student or Alum that you want to see highlighted on this blog please let me know via email: Brian@ewueagleeye.com

In the meantime, click your way past the break for our morning tour of the web:

Incoming Big Sky member Southern Utah University announces Nick Robinson as new Mens Basketball Head Coach

Nick Robinson; photo from abc4.com

Good Morning Eagle Fans!  In case you missed it, one of the new member universities of the Big Sky Conference filled their Head Coaching vacancy yesterday.  The Southern Utah University Thunderbirds announced that former Stanford hoopster Nick Robinson has agreed to become the school's 8th Head Coach in their 49 year history.

The Thunderbirds will enter the Big Sky Conference for the 2012-2013 basketball season.  Last year they finished 6th in the Summit League standings (8-10, 14-17) and advanced to the second round of the Summit League tournament before losing to South Dakota State.  They will be returning their top scorer (14.1 pts per game) in 6'4" Junior Forward Jackson Stevenett he also led the Thunderbirds in rebounds (5.7) and blocks (0.7).

EWU Highlight Videos, the Man behind the vision

Good Morning Eagle Fans!  I had the opportunity this week to talk with David Riley, who does all of the video highlight compilations for the Eagles.  You've seen his work on this blog quite a few times, for example this highlight clip of Senior Guard Cliff Colimon:



David told me that he is currently hard at work creating more highlight videos for the rest of the Eagles roster from this past season, so you can expect to see more of these on this website as well.  If you or someone you know would light a high quality highlight video like the one above created, you can contact David directly at driley11@eagles.ewu.edu.  He'll need DVD's of the game footage and will get your highlights ready for $100.

Laying the foundation - Jim Hayford's EWU opening moves

Jim Hayford; photo from goeags.com

After reading Jim Allen's story in the Spokesman Review, I got to thinking about the foundation that Coach Hayford is trying to build with the Eastern Washington Basketball program.

In his first season as Head Coach of the Eastern Washington Eagles, Jim Hayford guided the team to an 8-8 record in the Big Sky Conference, earning and winning a home playoff game for the first time since the 2006-2007 season.  The Eagles 15 overall wins was also their best since 2006-2007.  The on court accomplishments of this team were largely built on the solid play of four departing seniors, Cliff Colimon (#11), Cliff Ederaine (#42), Laron Griffin (#15) and Tremayne Johnson (#20).  Yet when we look at this season we can see a foundation being laid for future success.

EWU Eagles 2012-2013 Outlook: Justin Crosgile (#5)

Justin Crosgile, photo from goeags.com

Justin Crosgile (craws-guy-uhl) is a 5'11" point guard from Paterson, NJ.  He comes to the Eagles via Saint Joseph's where he played in 45 games averaging 5.9 points, 2.2 rebounds and 1.3 assists in just under 19 minutes a game.  The ESPN Scouting report on Justin in 2008 says in part, "Crosgile is a scoring guard who must continue to improve his ability to run a team. He can break his man down off the dribble almost at will, however his decision making needs to improve since he is determined to get a shot up or generate an assist."

EWU Eagle Eye Links for Monday 3-26-12

Good Morning Eagle Fans!  Its been a long weekend and being Monday it holds all the potential of well Monday.



Ok, obligatory youtube moment out of the way, lets move on to the morning tour of the web right after the break:

Parker Kelly (#10) Season Retrospective and Outlook for 2012-2013

Parker Kelly (#10)
photo from goeags.com

Parker Kelly the 6’4” true Freshman Walk-on from Spokane Washington had a really solid freshman season at times playing as the 6th man, in practical terms stepping in as the “starter” for the injured Collin Chiverton.  No Eagle shot better from the Free Throw line (91.3%) or from beyond the arc (44.9%).

Kelly’s season can pretty easily be broken into a tale of two halves.  He did not play in the team’s opening game vs Gonzaga, but during the following 16 games he averaged 10.2 minutes and 2.1 pts (including a high of 12 vs D3 Linfield).  He also totaled 14 rebounds, 4 assists, 6 steals and 1 block during that stretch.

EWU Eagle Eye Links for Wednesday 3-21-12

EWU Eagles Mascot Swoop
photo from goeags.com

Good Morning Eagle Fans!  Its time for a tour around the web to find all things Eagles, due to the Eagles not currently playing bball, there is a distinct lack of Eagle related bball news.  Don't fret though I've dug up plenty of good things to read about for the day.

Find out whats in store after the break:

Fun with YouTube and EWU Basketball via Cliff Colimon

Cliff Colimon;
 photo from goeags.com

Good Morning Eagles Fans!  I wanted to take a brief moment this morning to share the latest youtube offerings for the Eagles, three complete games posted on Cliff Colimon’s youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/cliff2smooth

Cliff posted the EWU game @ Gonzaga, the Semi-Final matchup @ Montana as well as the Senior Night battle vs Idaho State.  Of course all of those games are worth rewatching, but also be sure to check out Cliff Colimon’s highlights.  The video below highlights Cliff’s senior season leading the Eagles to their best record and deepest run into the Big Sky Tournament since Rodney Stuckey.  Cliff led all Eagles in minutes (35.1), scoring (16.5), assists (5), steals (1.6) and free throws made (115).  More importantly Cliff’s development as a threat to penetrate off the dribble, shoot from anywhere and dish to open Eagles made him a star in the Big Sky Conference and earned him selection to the Big Sky All-Conference 1st Team.

Jaylen Henry (#34) Season Retrospective and Outlook for 2012-2013

Jaylen Henry
photo from goeags.com

Jaylen Henry is a 6’7” Sophomore Forward who found himself near the bottom of the Eagles depth chart this season.  Competing with Cliff Ederaine (#42), Laron Griffin (#15), Collin Chiverton (#24), Tremayne Johnson (#20) and Jordan Hickert (#25) all getting time in the forward positions for the Eagles, it is not difficult to understand why Henry had trouble cracking the lineup.  Henry made appearances in 17 of the Eagles game this season collecting 12 rebounds, 2 pts, 1 assist and 1 steal in a combined 35 minutes of play time.

More after the break:

EWU Eagles 6th Man Club - Why it matters

Good Evening Eagle Fans!  I was perusing my twitter feed and noticed a post from @ewuathletics linking to their flickr.com page where they have pictures up of the new remodel of the bleachers at Reese Court:

Picture of the New Bleachers at EWU's Reese Court; photo from Eastern Washington University on Flickr.com

As you can see the project was remarkably successful in remaking the look and feel of Reese Court and truly appears to have modernized the up close seating.  More importantly this project was paid for in full by funds raised by the 6th Man Club which was started by Coach Hayford upon being hired as Head Coach.  Any of you who are current members of the 6th Man Club will be able to easily see the results of your generosity.  Anyone who wants to become a member needs to visit goeags.com


Congratulations to Coach Hayford and the Eagles 6th Man Club!

EWU Eagle Eye Links for Monday Morning 3-19-12

Good Morning Eagle fans!  Somehow I feel this could be a long week, so lets start off with plenty of Eagle and Basketball related news.  I plan on working my way through more retrospectives on individual players this week, but let me know if you think of anything else you want to see covered.  More on that later, but lets get past the break and onto the tour:

Kevin Winford (#23) Season Retrospective and Outlook for 2012-2013

Kevin Winford
photo from goeags.com

Kevin Winford, the 5’10” guard from Anchorage, AK had a difficult season, especially after injuring his tongue against Cal State Fullerton on December 11th.  Prior to that game Winford was averaging 3.6 pts, 1 rebound, and 0.9 assists in just under 15 minutes per game.  Following that injury Winford was limited to 1.6 pts, 0.5 assists and 0.2 rebounds in just 8 minutes per game.

Jordan Hickert (#25) Season Retrospective and Outlook for 2012-2013

Jordan Hickert
Photo by Harry How/Getty Images North America

Jordan Hickert came to the Eagles from Bunbury, Australia after having played for two years at Neosho County Community College in Kansas.  At 6’9” 225lbs, Jordan often found himself playing down low in the post with other big men, though his strength so far is more in his outside game.  Jordan’s ability to step outside and hit 3 point shots often forced defenders to cover him far from the basket which left lanes open for dribble penetration.

Cliff Ederaine (#42) 2011-2012 Season Highlights

Big Cliff Ederaine
photo from goeags.com

Few players were as fun to watch as “Big” Cliff Ederaine was during this Eagles season.  Whether it was his electric back to back double doubles against Northern Arizona and Sacramento State, an effort for which he earned the first ever EWU Eagle Eye Player of the Week honors, or when he stepped into the distributor role as he did against Idaho State.

EWU Eagle Eye Links for Sunday 3-18-12

Freshman Parker Kelly
photo from goeags.com

Good Morning Eagle Fans!  I have too much time on my hands this Sunday as its muggy, rainy and generally disgusting outside here in central Texas.  So I took some time to scroll through the web for EWU Eagle news and reads.  As should be expected there isn’t a lot of BBall news with both the men and women’s teams seasons recently ended in the Big Sky Conference tournament, but there is plenty of other Eagle action, so stay with us after the break to fill your Sunday entertainment gaps.

Eastern Washington University Men's Basket Ball Summer Camps 2012

One of the missions of this blog is to promote Eagle Basketball as a part of the community.  It is with this in mind that I am taking a moment today to talk about a great program instituted last Summer by Coach Hayford and continuing for the Summer of 2012.  Eagle Basketball camps provide an opportunity for the Eagles Coaching staff to reach out into the local youth basketball community and provide valuable lessons to youth teams and players.

In addition to helping out basketball programs and players in the region, the basketball camps provide Coach Hayford and his staff an opportunity to develop relationships with athletes and coaches in the region that will improve the Eagle basketball program over the long term.  It is also an excellent chance for the Eagles to raise some of the funds necessary to compete with other Big Sky programs financially.

Please head over to the official website of Eastern Washington University Men’s Basketball Camps: www.ewubasketballcamps.com or contact them directly via email ewubasketballcamp@gmail.com.

Upcoming 2012 Camps

Eastern Washington Team Camps
Team Camp 1 - June 21-23
Team Camp 2 - June 29 - July 1
Team Camp 3 - July 6 - 8
Team Camp 4 - July 13-15

Eastern Washington Individual Camps
TBD

Laron Griffin 2011-2012 highlights

Laron Griffin
photo from goeags.com

Eastern Washington Head Coach Jim Hayford talked about the Eagles needing to develop a post presence in order to be able to create offensive balance and force teams to defend the entire half court.  He said that in the final 20-25% of their games this season they accomplished that mission and he credited it to Laron Griffin.

Jeffrey Forbes (#22) Season Retrospective and looking ahead to 2012-2013

Jeff Forbes always plays with
high effort; photo from
goeags.com

Jeffrey Forbes has played three years of basketball for the Eastern Washington Eagles and this season only Cliff Colimon saw more minutes on the court.  Jeff was behind only Parker Kelly in Free throw percentage hitting 85.4%.  Forbes leads all returning Eagles in minutes, assists, rebounds and steals.  He’s second among all returning Eagles in scoring (Chiverton), Field Goals % (Kelly), Free Throw % (Kelly), and third in Three Point % (Kelly, Chiverton).

Tremayne Johnson (#20) Season Highlights

Tremayne Johnson
photo from goeags.com

Although I plan to spend most of this week doing season retrospectives on underclass men with an eye towards what the Eagles will look like next year, I’ll always stop and check out an Eagle highlight video.  This one comes from Tremayne Johnson’s youtube channel and naturally covers highlights of Tremayne’s two years as an Eagle.

Collin Chiverton (#24) Season Review and Prospective for 2012-2013

Chiverton drives against Montana
and should be a driving force for EWU
photo from goeags.com

The first recruit to sign on with Coach Hayford’s Eagles was a 6’6” scoring specialist by the name of Collin Chiverton.  He came to the Eagles by way of the City College of San Francisco where he helped lead the Rams to the state championship during the 2010-2011 season.  Prior to that Collin was a member of the Salt Lake Community College Bruins squad that went 24-8.  The year before that Collin was a red shirt for the Saint Mary’s College Gaels who went 28-7 and advanced to the quarter finals of the NIT.  Chiverton has been around and part of a lot of winning basketball programs.

EWU Eagle Season Retrospectives and Cliff Colimon highlight video

Good Morning Eagle Fans!  I was watching a youtube video of Cliff Colimon’s highlights from the season and realized a couple of things.  First, Cliff is a pretty good basketball player.  I also realized that he will be difficult to replace.  During my talk with Coach Hayford earlier this week he mentioned that he thinks Justin Crosgile is very good and can be one of the premier point guards at the mid major level, so there’s hope there.  Unfortunately we didn’t get to see Justin play this year so there isn’t much for me to review from this season.  We did, however get to see a lot of some of the other underclass men play so we can take a fairly in depth look at how they played and speculate how they might fit into the line up for the 2012-2013 season.

As you watch the video, pay attention to how Colimon puts the defense in a bind repeatedly.  He drives to the bucket, he penetrates only to stop and pop from medium range, he drives and dumps to his post players, he switches back out for long range shooters and of course he pulls up for his own 3 point shots.  I tried to describe the challenge of defending so many options yesterday, but this video is a pretty good demonstration of that concept:



So check back soon for season retrospectives focused on the Eagles underclassmen and as always let me know if there is anything else you’d like to see or read about here.

brian@ewueagleeye.com
@ewueagleeye

EWU Eagles Phases of Development

Cliff Ederaine (#42)
photo from goeags.com

Good Morning Eagle Fans, the other day I had the opportunity to talk to Coach Hayford about his first season as Eagles Head Coach and one of the subjects he covered in some detail was his view of how the team progressed through out the season.  I want to take what Coach said and try to expand upon his thoughts and analyze what that may mean for Eagles Basketball next year and beyond.

Coach essentially described three main phases in the Eagles offensive and we’ll take a look at each in some detail after the break:

EWU Eagle Eye Links for Wednesday 3-14-12

Good Morning Eagle Fans, news is a little light today, but here's what we've got for our morning tour of the web:

Goeags.com offers this profile on Eagle Pole Vaulter Keisa Monterola who has been honored as a 1st team All-American: http://goeags.com/sports/c-track/2011-12/Releases/12trMar10MonterolaChampionshipRecap
“If things keep going the way they are going now, she’ll be competing in the Olympics,” said Pole Vault Coach Eric Allison.

Jon at bigskybball.com offers his reasons that he thinks Montana will win in their opening round game against Wisconsin: http://www.bigskybball.com/2012/03/why-montana-will-beat-wisconsin.html

Rob Dauster at ballinisahabit.net offers his #POSTERIZED: College Basketball Dunks of the Year: http://www.ballinisahabit.net/2012/03/posterized-college-basketball-dunks-of.html

Brian Lynn of Eastern 24/7 reports on the upcoming strategic planning session for faculty and staff: http://sites.ewu.edu/Eastern247/2012/03/07/april-13-the-next-phase-of-ewus-strategic-planning-process/

Josh Friesen of The Easterner offers this report on Eastern’s Mens Tennis team setting their sites on the Big Sky Conference Championship: http://sites.ewu.edu/easterneronline/2012/03/08/tennis-players-breaking-barriers/

And just in case you missed it, check out our interview with Head Coach Jim Hayford, be sure to leave some comments so I can share them with Coach: http://www.ewueagleeye.com/2012/03/ewu-eagles-head-coach-jim-hayford-talks.html

EWU Eagles Head Coach Jim Hayford talks BBall with EWU Eagle Eye

Coach Jim Hayford
photo from goeags.com

Good Morning Eagles fans!  Last night I had the chance to talk with Coach Hayford about his first season as Head Coach of the Eastern Washington Eagles.  We talked for several minutes and covered a variety of topics including, the success of this season, recruiting and some of the Coach’s plans for the program through the off season and heading into next year.

Coach launched right into everything, so I missed a little of his comments before the recording starts and unfortunately the audio isn’t perfect, so I will work on that for future editions.  So keep with me after the break to find the audio file:

EWU Eagle Eye Links for Monday Morning 3-12-12

EWU Honors their Seniors
photo from goeags.com

Good Morning Eagles Fans!  Its the first Monday of the off season for the Eagles Basketball program, but that won’t stop us from scouring the web for Eagle news and stories.  Before we get onto our tour, I want to ask for your help during the off season.  If there is anything you want me to investigate and post on please let me know, in the comments, by email brian@ewueagleeye.com or on twitter @EWUEagleEye.  I’ll do my best to keep the posts coming and I have some ideas, plans and good intentions, but don’t hesitate to give me any suggestions or thoughts as well.

Now onto our tour after the break:

EWU Eagles Lose Big Sky Conference Semifinal to Montana 74-66

Cliff Colimon (#11) and the Eagles
gave Montana all they could handle
photo from goeags.com

It’s been almost a week since the game and the Eagles have moved into the off season, and after a few days of relaxation I’m getting back into the swing of things here and thought I should start with the final post game review of the season.

The Eagles (8-8, 15-17) feel to the University of Montana (15-1, 25-6) by a score of 74-66 on Tuesday night in the Semi-Final round of the Big Sky Conference Tournament.  The game was substantially closer than the 8 point difference in the score as the Eagles led 62-61 with less than 2 minutes remaining.  There were 9 lead changes and 3 ties in the second half of this contest before a series of Eagle turnovers and bad shots allowed Montana to pull away in the final 1:45.


Stay tuned after the break:

EWU Eagle Eye Links for Friday Morning 3-9-12

Good Morning Eagle Fans, we’re back after a brief hiatus in the wake of the Eagles season ending loss to the University of Montana Grizzlies.  Those same Grizzlies will represent the Big Sky Conference in this years NCAA Tournament, with bracketologists anticipating them getting a seed somewhere in the 14-16 range.  That means they will take on one of this years best programs in the first round.

So today we’ll take a tour of the web, covering the basics of recaps, individual player stories and we’ll delve into a bit about Montana and the rest of the Big Sky as well.  Keep with us after the break for the links:

EWU Eagles Lead the Montana Grizzlies 35-30 at the half in the Big Sky Conference Semi-Final match-up

The story of the first half for the Eagles has been all about aggression.  The Eagles have stepped into the faces of the Montana Grizzlies with or without the ball and early on it had the regular season champions frustrated.  The Eagles were not as sharp shooting from distance as they wanted to be, but they made up for it by driving into the paint repeatedly.  Montana jumped out to the early leads of 7-3 and 17-12 before the Eagles roared back with a pair of runs to take a 31-20 lead.  

Montana showed why they are the regular season champion by locking down the Eagles and closing the gap to 35-30 at the half.  For the Eagles both Cliff Ederaine and Laron Griffin are dangerously close to serious foul trouble and that could be telling in the second half.  Cliff Colimon was distributing well and scoring finishing the half with 16 points to lead the Eagles.

The Eagles will need to play foul free in the second half and continue to push their attack into the paint.  The Grizzlies were very good on the offensive glass and the Eagles can not continue to give them multiple chances to score points.

EWU Eagle Eye Player of the Week: Jeffrey Forbes (#22)

Jeffrey Forbes lit the house on fire
photo from goeags.com

EWU Eagle Eye Player of the Week February 28th to March 5th, 2012

Jeffrey Forbes (#22) - @JFlight22
Junior Guard 5’10” 170lbs

Last week Jeffrey Forbes contributed his usual solid performance, a tough defender and middle man in an Eagles offense that doesn’t often give him opportunities for points or assists Jeff’s presence is steadfast and consistent.  In two games Jeff played a combined total of 74 minutes, he accumulated 28 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals and 0 turnovers.  On Tuesday he hit his season average across the board with 7 pts, 4 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal.  When the Big Sky Tournament came to town and the Eagles faced the daunting task of defeating the Idaho State Bengals for a third time in just ten days and when the same Eagles squad needed someone to step up and score, Forbes answered the call.

Forbes got hot early and stayed hot through-out the game as he shot 8 of 12 from the field or about 67% including a sizzling 5 of 6 from beyond the arc.  Jeff didn’t stop with a phenomenal offensive performance that netted 21 pts, the most for him against a D1 opponent since late 2009, he also added 4 rebounds 2 assists and 2 steals.  He did it without turning the ball over a single time.  Forbes couldn’t have picked a better time for his best game of the season.

Check out the previous EWU Eagle Eye Players of the Week:
February 21st to February 27th, 2012
February 14th to February 20th, 2012
February 7th to February 13th, 2012
January 31st to February 6th, 2012

EWU Eagle Eye Links for Tuesday Morning 3/6/12

Jim Hayford has his work cut out
for him, photo from goeags.com

Good Morning Eagle Fans! Today might be a struggle to suffer through the waiting game before tonight's Big Sky Conference Semi-Final match-up between the EWU Eagles and the Montana Grizzlies. But fear not, we've got some Eagle news from around the web to help you make it through.

Lets start off with Jim Allen, of the Spokesman Review, who offers a preview of tonight's match-up, “I was hoping for Montana,” said Eastern Washington freshman guard Parker Kelly, who will get his wish in tonight’s Big Sky Conference men’s basketball semifinal game.

Lots more following the break:

EWU Eagles @ Montana Grizzlies Big Sky Conference Semifinal Preview

The Eagles will need a complete
team effort to win Tuesday
photo from goeags.com

Tuesday night the Eagles head to Missoula, MT to take on a regular season champion Montana Grizzlies squad featuring two Big Sky Conference first team-ers and two second team-ers as well.  The winner will head on to the Finals of the Big Sky Conference and play for an opportunity to advance to the NCAA Tournament.  

The Eagles are coming off a dominant quarterfinal victory over Idaho State.  During that game the Eagles rode career performances from Jeffrey Forbes (#22) whose 21 pts were the most he’s scored against a D1 opponent since 2009 and Laron Griffin (#15) whose 21 points were his career high and he paired that with 11 rebounds for his 6th career double-double.  The Eagles were able to mix up inside and outside play offensively to defeat a Bengals teal that was mostly content to fire away from intermediate to long range.  That is not Montana’s game.


Keep reading after the break:

EWU Eagle Eye Links for Monday Morning

Good Morning Eagles Fans!  Its tournament week, as in Big Sky Conference Tournament, the same tournament that your Eastern Washington Eagles are 1-0 in, and have advanced to the Semi Final round for the first time in 6 years.  Tuesday night the Eagles will take on regular season champions the Montana Grizzlies in Missoula.

Now that you’ve caught your breath let’s take a tour of the internet after the jump:

EWU Eagle Eye Player of the Week Candidates February 28th to March 5th

Coach Hayford should be proud
of all these players
photo from goeags.com

Ok Eagle’s Fans, its time to consider and select your EWU Eagle Eye Player of the Week for February 28th to March 5th, 2012.  Here are the candidates whose performances best helped the Eagles complete a 3 game season sweep of the Idaho State Bengals find out who after the break:

EWU Eagles advance to Big Sky Conference Semi Finals by beating Idaho State 81-75

Eagles mascot Swoop and the rest
of EWU are doing backflips
after Saturday's win
photo from goeags.com

On Saturday afternoon the Eagles (8-8, 15-16) hosted the Idaho State Bengals (7-9, 9-21) at Reese Court in a showdown that represented the third meeting of these two teams in ten days.  On Tuesday night it was the seniors who gave the Eagles a decisive edge.  Saturday afternoon, however, belonged to Junior Guard Jeffrey Forbes (#22) whose season high 21 points, was the most he’s scored against a division one opponent since he scored 24 against University of Texas-Arlington on November 21st, 2009.

Jeffrey scored his 21 points by going 5 of 6 from beyond the arc and 8 of 12 overall, he also added 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals with no turnovers while playing a team leading 39 minutes in the game.  The Bengals shifted their offensive strategy from their previous match ups focusing on the pick and roll plays which allowed them to create good separation against an Eagles man defense that was playing extremely tight.

Continued after the break:

Idaho State @ Eastern Washington: Big Sky Conference Quarterfinals preview

Cliff Ederaine (#42) has been
Mr. All Around down the stretch
photo from goeags.com

This afternoon at 2pm pacific the Idaho State Bengals will walk into Reese Court in Cheney to take on the Eastern Washington Eagles, just about 90 hours since they were run out of the same court by these same Eagles 77-64.  In the intervening time, two Eagles received recognition on the All Conference team, including first team selection Cliff Colimon (#11).  

You can expect to hear a lot about the Eagles Senior Guard this afternoon Colimon has led the Eagles in scoring in the last 6 conference games averaging 22.5 pts per contest.  Against the Bengals over the last ten days Colimon has been even better averaging 24.5 pts, 4 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 0.5 steals.  Cliff is playing like a senior with one final chance to win some games in the conference tournament.


Keep reading after the break:

EWU Eagle Eye Links for Friday Morning

EWU Honored their Seniors Tuesday Night
photo from goeags.com

Good Morning Eagle Fans!  We managed to make it to Friday through an exciting week featuring a dominating victory for EWU Basketball, an epic showdown to determine the Big Sky Conference regular season champions, as well as finding out all of the Big Sky Conference individual award winners including a pair of Eagles.

So since I’ve started the links in the first paragraph, my transition may not make as much sense, but lets get on with this mornings jaunt across the interenet after the break:

Cliff Colimon (#11) Splits Big Sky Conference Player of the Week honors with UM's Will Cherry

Cliff Colimon (#11) and Will Cherry (#5) are the
Big Sky Conference Co-Players of the Week
photo from bigskyconf.com

Amongst a flurry of announcements yesterday, The Big Sky Conference announced co-Players of the Week in University of Montana Guard Will Cherry and Eastern Washington’s own Cliff Colimon (#11).  The official release cited both players superb efforts in leading their teams to season ending victories over rivals that ensured home court advantage, in the first round for the Eagles and throughout the tournament for the regular season champion Grizzlies.  Head over to grizbasketball.com if you want to know more about Will Cherry’s performance.

Colimon’s performance against Idaho State on Tuesday night was exceptional; a career high in points (28) on 8 of 15 shooting from the field and 10 of 11 from the free throw line, he also added 4 assists and 2 rebounds with only 2 turnovers.  That game was the only regular season game of the conference week for Colimon and the Eagles, but we would be remiss in not pointing out Cliff’s incredible performance down the stretch as the Eagles won 3 of their final four games in conference to claw their way to the 4th seed.

Over that stretch Colimon averaged 22.5 points, 5.75 assists, 5.25 rebounds, 0.75 steals in 37.5 minutes per contest.  Cliff approached a triple-double versus Northern Colorado (22 pts, 9 rebounds and 9 assists) and helped the Eagles by getting to the free throw line often and making his shots when he got there.  Colimon went 31 of 40 from the free throw line during these 4 games.

The honor is well deserved and while this is indicative only of one game, the Big Sky Conference also recognized Colimon’s season long achievements by selecting him to the first team All Conference squad.  Cliff and the Eagles aren’t done with this season yet and you can expect to see Colimon at his dynamic best on Saturday afternoon.

Big Sky All Conference Team; Eagles Honored

Cliff Colimon (#11) was named to the first team Big Sky All Conference Team.  Collin Chiverton (#24) was listed as an honorable mention.

 

Cliff Colimon (#11)
photo from goeags.com 

Collin Chiverton (#24)
photo from goeags.com

Colimon (15.9 ppg) and Chiverton (14.7 ppg) were the Eagles leading scorers for the year, while Colimon also lead the Eagles in assists (5.0 apg) and steals (1.6 spg).

Check out the complete All Conference Team after the break:

Collin Chiverton (#24) Big Sky Conference Newcomer of the Year

The Big Sky Conference announced their individual season awards today, and Eastern Washington’s Collin Chiverton (#24) was selected as Newcomer of the Year, “Chiverton, a 6-foot-6 junior from San Jose, Calif., played in 30 games, averaging 14.7 points and making 2.9 3-pointers per game. Chiverton transferred from City of College of San Francisco.”


Read more after the break:

EWU Eagle Seniors dominate in 77-64 victory over Idaho State

Laron Griffin (#15) earned his
11th career double-double
photo by Dan Pell

Normally Senior night is about a school, community and team saying, “Thank you” to their soon departing Senior class, instead, Tuesday night EWU’s Reese Court was honored by four Seniors playing what would have been the final home game of their college careers.  The Eagles decisive, dominant victory of the Bengals of Idaho State assured Cliff Colimon (#11), Cliff Ederaine (#42), Laron Griffin (#15) and Tremayne Johnson (#20) one more chance to play before their home crowd, to bring one more Eagle victory to Reese Court.


More after the jump: