In helping EWU to a weekend split and fourth-place tie in the league standings, senior Jesse Hunt was selected as the College Sports Madness Big Sky Conference Player of the Week. Hunt averaged 17.5 points, 10.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.5 blocked shots per game. He sank 45.5 percent of his field goal attempts overall (10-of-22), 44.4 percent of his 3-point attempts (4-of-9) and 73.3 percent from the free throw line (11-of-15).
 
Hunt is coming off his ninth double-double of the season with 16 points, 11 rebounds and five assists in a win at Northern Arizona on Feb. 23 when he sank 9-of-10 free throws in the 86-73 win. One game earlier versus Southern Utah in a 76-62 loss, Hunt had 19 points, nine rebounds, an assist and three blocked shots.
 
"He's done an amazing job this year and it's huge for him to get noticed as a player of the week because his numbers have been consistent every game," said Eastern head coach Shantay Legans. "He ranks high in the Big Sky in a lot of categories – he's doing everything for our team."

Hunt has had had five 20-point outings this season, with nine double-doubles to give him 11 in his career. He's had at least five assists in five of his last nine games. In January he was selected to the HoopsHD.com mid-season All-Big Sky team after leading the Eagles in scoring and rebounding during the preseason.
 
He is currently averaging 14.5 points, 8.5 rebounds and 3.3 assists on the season. He is second in the Big Sky in rebounding, 11th in scoring and eighth in assists. Hunt has shooting percentages of 49.1 percent overall (10th in the Big Sky), 44.8 percent from 3-point range (fourth; 43-of-96) and 72.9 percent from the free throw line.
 
In league play he has averages of 13.6 points (15th), 9.0 rebounds (third) and 3.6 assists (ninth) in 16 games. In league games only, he is third in the Big Sky in 3-point accuracy (46.2 percent; 24-of-52) and has made 79.0 percent of his free throws (49-of-62) to rank 11th. He has had 28 career double-figure scoring performances in his career to go along with 14 performances with 10 or more rebounds.

Hunt has played in 110 career games with 44 starts, and has averages of 6.3 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.2 assists. The Eagles host Sacramento State on Thursday (Feb. 28) at 6:05 p.m. Pacific time before Portland State visits on Senior Day Saturday (March 2) at 2:05 p.m. Hunt, Ty Gibson and Cody Benzel will be playing the final regular season home game in their more than 100-game careers.

"He's been great and has had to play out of position for a good portion of this season," added Legans. "And he's still doing that -- now with Jacob (Davison) is out we are asking him to do more ball-handling."
 
Hunt had a 21-point outing in an 88-78 overtime win over Northern Colorado ion Feb. 16 in which he also had seven rebounds and six assists. On Feb. 9 at Montana he finished with 14 points and 12 rebounds, and two games earlier in a win over Northern Arizona on Feb. 4 he finished with 15 points, 11 rebounds and six assists. Hunt led the Eagles with 22 points and a career-high 17 rebounds in EWU's 94-92 overtime win at Sacramento State on Jan. 26, making 8-of-12 shots overall and 4-of-6 from the 3-point stripe. His rebounding total equaled the eighth-most in school history and exceeded by two his previous high. He also led the team in assists with six, blocks with one and steals with one.
 
He had a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds in an 85-81 win against Montana State, and 15 rebounds and eight points in a 78-71 victory over Montana on Jan. 10. He finished with eight points and career highs of 12 rebounds and eight assists while going against South Dakota State All-American Mike Daum on Dec. 18. In addition, Hunt scored 27 points in a December outing versus Stanford, making 9-of-15 shots from the floor and finishing with four rebounds.
 
Hunt had back-to-back double-doubles – including a 32-point outing in an EWU victory -- to earn All-Tournament honors at the Cheney Sub-Regional of the 2K Empire Classic Benefiting the Wounded Warrior Project. He then followed that performance by leading the Eagles with 15 points at Washington on Nov. 27, and had a double-double with 26 points and 10 rebounds at Seattle on Dec. 1.
 
He scored 15 of EWU's 22 points down the stretch en route to his second-straight double-double and give the Eagles an 87-80 victory over the University of Missouri Kansas City on Nov. 17 at Reese Court in Cheney, Wash. In finishing with 32 points, he doubled his previous career high of 16 and achieved a new career high with 12 rebounds. Hunt hit a 3-pointer to send the game into overtime and his efforts also included two other baskets in the final 2:02 of regulation to provide most of EWU's offense down the stretch. He then scored eight of EWU's 18 points in overtime. He sank 12-of-16 shots from the field with a trio of 3-pointers, and also had four assists.
 
"Jesse was there and knocked down the shot," said Eastern head coach Shantay Legans on his team getting to overtime. "Our guys spaced the floor and Jesse came up big. Jesse had a great game. For he and Ty (Gibson) to get 20 rebounds between them was huge."
 
One game earlier in a semifinal loss to Green Bay, Hunt finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds, plus had three assists and a pair of blocked shots. In the two games, he averaged 23.5 points, 11.0 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.0 blocked shots per game, while making 65.5 percent of his shots overall (19-of-29), 4-of-6 from the 3-point stripe and 5-of-9 free throws.