Eastern adds game to schedule but loses two players for an extended time because of injuries

Already off to a rocky start on the injury front, the 2010-11 Eastern Washington University men's basketball team will have a scrimmage open to the public this Saturday prior to EWU's football game that afternoon. The scrimmage will take place at 11:30 a.m. at Reese Court, with the Homecoming football game taking place at 1:05 p.m. against Sacramento State.

Practices started last Friday, and Eastern has already lost 2009-10 Big Sky Conference Freshman of the Year Glen Dean indefinitely due to a stress fracture in his foot. Eastern head coach Kirk Earlywine said Dean will be in a boot for about three weeks and will be re-evaluated in early November. Dean averaged 12.2 points and 4.4 assists a year ago, and has a redshirt year available if needed.

A broken wrist suffered by true freshman Geoffrey Allen will keep him in cast for about three months as he will now utilize his redshirt season in 2010-11. The son of former UCLA and NBA standout Lucius Allen, he is from Los Angeles, Calif., and is a 2010 graduate of Pacific Hills High School

In addition, Eastern has announced it has added Northwest University from Kirkland, Wash., to its home schedule, and the Eagles versus Eagles matchup will take place Thursday, Nov. 18 at 7:05 p.m. Pacific time at Reese Court. It replaces a previously scheduled game on Nov. 19 versus Salish Kootenai College, who the Eagles will now play in an exhibition game in the 2011-12 season.

The opening week of practice was very interesting, to say the least, for Earlywine and his program. A rash of injuries started earlier in the week when men's basketball athletic trainer Donald Sims suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon, then assistant coach Jamie Matthews spent time in the hospital with a staph infection near his eye.

Besides injuries in practice to Dean and Allen, returnee Laron Griffin and newcomer Cliff Colimon both suffered minor injuries within seconds of each other during the same drill. Griffin took an elbow to his head and Colimon was poked in the eye.

In addition, walk-on redshirt freshman Sean Fischer is still recovering from a cartilage tear in his shoulder suffered two weeks ago and Rashano McRae suffered from back spasms in the opening practices. Also, newcomer Willie Hankins has yet to be cleared to practice by the NCAA Clearinghouse.

At one point in practices last weekend, Eastern's 15-person roster had shrunk to eight players available. That necessitated a pair of assistant coaches to take part in practices, including former Eagle Rachi Wortham and former California and Fresno State standout Shantay Legans.

Eastern has no seniors on its 2010-11 roster, and features a quartet of returning letter winners from last year's team that finished 9-21 overall and 5-11 in the Big Sky Conference. Besides Dean, returning starters include fellow guards Jeffrey Forbes and Kevin Winford, who averaged 11.0 and 6.9 points, respectively, a year ago. The fourth returning letter winner is the 6-foot-8 Griffin, who averaged 4.8 points and 3.8 rebounds a year ago.

The Eagles have been picked to finish sixth in the Big Sky Conference in both the media and coaches polls. Weber State, which has gone 28-4 over the last two seasons and is the two-time defending league champion, is picked first in both polls.

Below is Eastern's schedule and roster for the 2010-11 season:

SCHEDULE

Day - Date - Opponent - Site - Time
Tuesday - Nov. 2 - #Seattle Pacific - Cheney, Wash. - 7:05 p.m.
Monday - Nov. 8 - #Montana State-Billings - Cheney, Wash. - 7:05 p.m.
Friday - Nov. 12 - %San Jose State  - Cheney, Wash. - 5:35 p.m.
Tuesday - Nov. 16 - at $Washington - Seattle, Wash. - 7:05 p.m.
Thursday - Nov. 18 - Northwest University - Cheney, Wash. - 7:05 p.m.
Wednesday - Nov. 24 - at Boise State - Boise, Idaho - 6:05 p.m.
Saturday - Nov. 27 - ~Idaho - Cheney, Wash. - 3:05 p.m.
Tuesday - Nov. 30 - at $Gonzaga - Spokane, Wash. - 6:05 p.m.
Saturday - Dec. 4 - New Hope Christian College (Ore.) - Cheney, Wash. - 3:05 p.m.
Sunday - Dec. 12 - at San Jose State - San Jose, Calif. - 1:05 p.m.
Wednesday - Dec. 15 - %~Seattle University - Cheney, Wash. - 5:35 p.m.
Saturday - Dec. 18 - at Nebraska - Lincoln, Neb. - 4:05 p.m.
Monday - Dec. 20 - at South Dakota - Vermillion, S.D. - 5 p.m.
Wednesday - Dec. 29 - *Sacramento State - Cheney, Wash.  - 7:05 p.m.
Friday - Dec. 31 - *~Northern Colorado - Cheney, Wash. - 3:05 p.m.
Thursday - Jan. 6 - at Seattle University - Seattle, Wash. - 7:10 p.m.
Saturday - Jan. 8 - at *Portland State - Portland, Ore. - 7:05 p.m.
Thursday - Jan. 13 - at *Montana - Missoula, Mont.  - 6:05 p.m.
Sunday - Jan. 16 - at *^Montana State - Bozeman, Mont.  - 1:05 p.m.
Thursday - Jan. 20 - *Northern Arizona - Cheney, Wash. - 7:05 p.m.
Saturday - Jan. 22 - at *Sacramento State - Sacramento, Calif. - 7:05 p.m.
Thursday - Jan. 27 - *Portland State - Cheney, Wash.  - 7:05 p.m.
Saturday - Jan. 29 - *Idaho State - Cheney, Wash. - 7:05 p.m.
Thursday - Feb. 3 - at *Northern Colorado - Greeley, Colo. - 6:05 p.m.
Saturday - Feb. 5 - at *Idaho State - Pocatello, Idaho - 6:05 p.m.
Saturday - Feb. 12 - *Weber State - Cheney, Wash.  - 7:05 p.m.
Wednesday - Feb. 16 - at *Northern Arizona - Flagstaff, Ariz. - 5:35 p.m.
TBA - Feb. 18 or 19 - ESPN BracketBusters - Cheney, Wash. - TBA
Thursday - Feb. 24 - *Montana State - Cheney, Wash.  - 7:05 p.m.
Saturday - Feb. 26 - *^Montana - Cheney, Wash.  - 5:05 p.m.
Wednesday - March 2 - at *Weber State - Ogden, Utah - 7:05 p.m.
Saturday - March 5 - Big Sky Tournament Quarterfinals - Campus Sites
Tuesday - March 8 - Big Sky Tournament Semifinals - Reg. Season Champion
Wednesday - March 9 - Big Sky Tournament Championship - Reg. Season Champion

All Times Pacific.  *Big Sky Conference Game. #Exhibition Game. ^Televised regionally on Altitude Sports and Entertainment. ~Televised locally by SWX (SWX Digital 6.2, Comcast 115, Time Warner 306, Charter 287). $Televised regionally on Fox Sports Net (Gonzaga game also on KHQ in Spokane). %Doubleheader with EWU women (women start at 7:30 p.m.).

DATES & TIMES SUBJECT TO CHANGE . . . CALL NUMBERS BELOW FOR CHANGES
All Eastern Home Games Played at Reese Court on the Eastern Washington University campus.
Athletics Web Site: HTTP://WWW.GOEAGS.COM or HTTP://WWW.EWU.EDU
Schedule or Ticket Information: 509-359-6334 or 509-359-4339 or 509-359-2463 or 1-866-4GO-EAGS 

ROSTER 

No. - LETTER WINNERS RETURNING - Pos. - Ht. - Wt. - Yr. - Exp. - Hometown (Previous School)
1 - ^Glen Dean - G - 5-10 - 170 - So. - 1L - Seattle, Wash. (Roosevelt HS '08 / Laurinburg Institute Prep)
22 - ^Jeffrey Forbes - G - 5-10 - 170 - So. - 1L - Federal Way, Wash. (Federal Way HS '09)
15 - Laron Griffin - F - 6-8 - 220 - Jr. - 1L* - Los Angeles, Calif. (Manual Arts HS '07 / L.A. Southwest College)
23 - ^Kevin Winford - G - 5-11 - 170 - So. - 1L* - Anchorage, Alaska (Bartlett HS '08)

No. - 2009-10 REDSHIRTS - Pos. - Ht. - Wt. - Yr. - Exp. - Hometown (Previous School)
10 - #Sean Fischer - G - 6-0 - 170 - Fr. - HS* - Spokane, Wash. (Gonzaga Prep '09)
32 - #Morgan Hyslop - F - 6-7 - 200 - Jr. - JC* - Spokane, Wash. (Ferris HS '07 / Columbia Basin CC, Wash.)

No. - NEWCOMERS - Pos. - Ht. - Wt. - Yr. - Exp. - Hometown (Previous School)
21 - Geoffrey Allen - G/F - 6-5 - 170 - Fr. - HS - Los Angeles, Calif. (Pacific Hills HS '10)
2 - Rocky Brown - F - 6-6 - 200 - Fr. - HS - Fresno, Calif. (Central HS '10)
11 - Cliff Colimon - G - 6-0 - 170 - Jr. - JC - Brooklyn, N.Y. (Elizabeth HS, N.J. '07/Eastern Utah JC)
42 - Cliff Ederaine - F - 6-7 - 205 - Jr. - JC - Moreno Valley, Calif. (Canyon Springs HS '08 / College of the Sequoias, Calif.)
4 - Willie Hankins - G - 6-3 - 190 - Fr. - HS - Van Nuys, Calif. (The College Preparatory School '10)
34 - Jaylen Henry - F - 6-7 - 230 - Fr. - HS - Las Vegas, Nev. (Cheyenne HS '10)
20 - Tremayne Johnson - F - 6-7 - 200 - Jr. - JC* - Los Angeles, Calif. (Artesia HS '07 / L.A. Southwest JC)
12 - Rashano McRae - F - 6-7 - 230 - Jr. - JC* - Bronx, N.Y. (Western HS '07 in Davie, Fla.) / Highland JC, Kan.)
5 - Carter Warnock - F - 6-9 - 220 - Fr. - HS - Chandler, Ariz. (Seton Catholic HS '10)

No. - LETTER WINNERS LOST - Pos. - Ht. - Wt. - Yr. - Exp. - Hometown (Previous School)
32 - Matthew Brunell - F - 6-8 - 230 - Sr. - 2L - Cheney, Wash. (Cheney HS '06 / Big Bend CC, Wash.)
24 - Abebe Demissie - F - 6-5 - 180 - Fr. - HS* - Seattle, Wash. (Rainier Beach HS '08)
42 - ^Mark Dunn - F - 6-8 - 260 - Sr. - 1L - Trafalgar, Ind. (Indian Creek HS '06 / Danville Area CC., Ill.)
10 - Alden Gibbs - G - 6-3 - 185 - Jr. - JC - Brooklyn, N.Y. (Canarsie HS '07 / College of the Siskiyous)
14 - Gary Gibson - G - 6-1 - 175 - Sr. - 2L* - Windsor, Ontario (Washington HS, Fla., '05 / Miami Dade College)
45 - ^Brandon Moore - C/F - 6-9 - 250 - Sr. - 3L* - Graham, Wash. (Bethel HS '05)
5- Benny Valentine - G - 5-7 - 175 - Sr. - 1L* - Omaha, Neb. (Omaha Central '05 / Texas Tech)

^2009-10 Starter. #Redshirted 2009-10 season. *Has used redshirt year. %Will redshirt 2010-11 season.

Head Coach: - Kirk Earlywine (Fourth Year at EWU, Campbell University '87)
Associate Head Coach: - Jamie Matthews (Fourth Year at EWU, Ball State '93)
Assistants: - Rachi Wortham (Fourth Year, Eastern Washington '06); Shantay Legans (Second Year, Fresno State '04)
Administrative Assistant: - Travis Naught (10th Year, Eastern Washington '05)
Athletic Trainer:  - Donald Sims (Sixth Year, Eastern Washington '02)

Pronunciations
Geoffrey Allen - Jahf-ree
Laron Griffin - Luh-ron
Hyslop - Hiss-lup
Ederaine - Ed-er-rain
Rachi Wortham - Raw-she Worth-um
Shantay Legans - Shawn-tay