Big Sky Conference News Release

The hardware haul was large for the Eastern Washington University men's basketball team, but none bigger than the one senior Mason Peatling deservedly garnered.
 
The Eagle senior capped a dominating run through the Big Sky Conference by being selected as the Most Valuable Player by the league's 11 head coaches, the Big Sky announced on Tuesday (March 10). He becomes the fifth Eagle to win the award in EWU's 33 seasons as a member of the league.
 
Peatling was one of three unanimous choices on the All-Big Sky first team, with Eagle junior Jacob Davison picked for the second team and sophomore Kim Aiken Jr. earning third team honors. That trio helped the Eagles win the Big Sky Conference regular season title outright with a 16-4 record, and EWU begins play Thursday (March 12) in the Big Sky Conference Tournament with a 23-8 record overall.
 
Peatling was on fire during the league season, closing with averages of 18.5 points on 56 percent shooting from the field, 10.4 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 1.7 blocked shots and 0.8 steals. He's had 11 double-doubles in his last 15 games as he joined Alvin Snow (2004), Rodney Stuckey (2006), Jacob Wiley (2017) and Bogdan Bliznyuk (2018) as MVP choices from EWU.
 
Peatling was a second team All-Big Sky selection a year ago, and was honorable mention as a sophomore in the 2017-18 season.
 
"Mason is as deserving of the MVP as any player I've ever been around," said Eastern head coach Shantay Legans of the 6-foot-8 forward from Melbourne, Australia. "I'm so thrilled he is getting recognized for all the hard work he's put in over his years at Eastern."
 
Peatling was the only player in the league to rank in the top 10 in league-games only in scoring, rebounding, assists, blocked shots and field goal percentage, and he ranked in the top six in each. Further, he is also the only player to average a double-double.
 
In league games only, he ranked first in rebounding (10.4), third in field goal percentage (.563), fifth in scoring (18.5), sixth in assists (3.8) and third in blocked shots (1.7). He was also first in offensive rebounds (3.9), second in defensive rebounds (6.5), eighth in assist-to-turnover ratio (+1.4) and 14th in free throw percentage (.636).
 
"Those who have followed the team know just how much he's improved year after year, which is a product of his tireless work ethic," added Legans. "He's as good a person and teammate as he is a ball player, and there's no one that embodies the Eagle culture more than him."
 
Davison, a 6-4 guard from Long Beach, Calif., overtook Peatling for fourth in scoring (18.7) in league games only. He ranked 11th in field goal percentage (.439), 10th in free throw percentage (.752), 12th in steals (1.2) and 14th in assists (2.7). He'll enter the Big Sky tournament with three-straight games of at least 20 points after having missed the last 10 games last season with an injury.
 
"Jacob is one of the most talented players I've ever coached, and he's worked hard to improve all facets of his game," said Legans of the third team All-Big Sky selection a year ago. "He's battled through a lot of adversity during his time at EWU, and it's great to see that hard work pay off. He adds a rare dimension to our team and we certainly wouldn't have won the conference without him. We're incredibly lucky to have him on our squad both this year and going forward."
 
Aiken closed the league season second in rebounding (9.0), first in defensive rebounds (7.5), third in 3-pointers made per game (2.3), fifth in steals (1.7), 12th in blocked shots (1.1) and 21st in scoring (12.1). He is a 6-foot-7 guard/forward from Redlands, Calif., and joined Peatling as a member of the last year's Big Sky All-Tournament team when EWU advanced to the championship game for the second season in a row. 
 
 "Kim is not only a great ball player, but he's one of the best persons I've ever been around," said Legans. "He exudes positivity throughout our locker room and is so valuable to our success. He's worked hard to sharpen his offensive game, and I don't know that there is anyone in the conference who is a better defender. I'm so happy to see him recognized for his massive contributions to our team, both on and off the court."
 
That trio has combined for 61 percent of EWU's scoring, 60 percent of its rebounding and 80 percent of its blocked shots. In addition, they have combined for 65 percent of the team's free throws made, 55 percent of its steals, 50 percent of its 3-pointers made, 61 percent of its field goals overall and 47 percent of the total minutes for the Eagles.
 
 

EWU's Big Sky Conference Most Valuable Players

2004     Alvin Snow
2006     Rodney Stuckey
2017     Jacob Wiley
2018     Bogdan Bliznyuk
2020     Mason Peatling
 

 
2019-20 Big Sky Men's Basketball All-Conference Team

Individual Award Winners
Most Valuable Player: Mason Peatling, Eastern Washington
Newcomer of the Year: Jubrile Belo, Montana State
Freshman of the Year: Derrick Carter-Hollinger, Montana
Defensive Player of the Year: Jonah Radebaugh, Northern Colorado
Top Reserve: Kai Edwards, Northern Colorado

First Team
*Mason Peatling, Eastern Washington
*#Sayeed Pridgett, Montana
*Jonah Radebaugh, Northern Colorado
Harald Frey, Montana State
Holland Woods, Portland State
 
Second Team
Jacob Davison, Eastern Washington
Jerrick Harding, Weber State
Kendal Manuel, Montana
Trevon Allen, Idaho
Bodie Hume, Northern Colorado
 
Third Team
Joshua Patton, Sacramento State
Cameron Shelton, Northern Arizona
Kim Aiken Jr., Eastern Washington
Brooks DeBisschop, Northern Arizona
Jubrile Belo, Montana State
 
Honorable Mention
Bernie Andre, Northern Arizona
Cameron Oluyitan, Southern Utah
Sal Nuhu, Portland State
Cody John, Weber State
Izayah Mauriohooho-Le'afa, Sacramento State
 
* - Unanimous First Team Selection
# - Two-time First Team Selection
 
 

More on Peatling . . .

One of just two Eagle seniors on this year's team, Peatling has been honored as Big Sky Conference Player of the Week four times this season. He and teammate Jacob Davison were among the six players chosen league-wide as preseason All-Big Sky selections for the 2019-20 season. Peatling then joined Kim Aiken Jr. in earning mid-season All-Big Sky accolades from HoopsHD.com. Peatling was sidelined a year ago with a foot injury when the Eagles were just 1-9, but since then Eastern is 38-17 (15-9 last year, 23-8 this season) heading into the Big Sky Conference Tournament.
 
Overall this season, Peatling is 56th in NCAA Division I in rebounding overall (9.1 to rank second in the league behind teammate Kim Aiken Jr.) and 28th in offensive rebounds per game (league-leading 3.42). He has 14 double-doubles to rank 25th nationally and lead the Big Sky, and his season average of 17.2 points per game is sixth in the league.
 
Besides his averages of 17.2 points and 9.1 rebounds per game, Peatling is averaging 3.2 assists and 1.5 blocks, including a pair games in which he came three assists from a triple double. The first came in an 89-84 win over Northern Colorado on Jan. 27, finishing with 21 points and 22 rebounds – second most in school history -- seven assists and three blocked shots. The other performance came on March 5 when he finished with 16 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists. That gives him the 12th and 13th performances in school history to come within a combination of three points/rebounds/assists from a triple double, in addition to the lone triple double in school history.
 
Those games were part of his current stretch of 11 double-doubles in 15 games, including five in a row from Feb. 8 to Feb. 22 in which he averaged 23.4 points, 11.2 rebounds and 4.4 assists.  Peatling hit a significant milestone on Jan. 25, hitting the 1,000-point mark in his career in an 81-78 overtime home victory over Southern Utah. He finished that game with 30 points, 11 rebounds, five blocked shots and five assists. 
 
Peatling has now played 118 games in his career to rank 10th in school history, and he became the 22nd player all-time at Eastern to hit the 1,000-point mark (he currently ranks 12th with 1,250). His .555 shooting percentage in his career currently ranks seventh, his 725 rebounds are sixth and his 112 blocked shots are second as he became the third Eagle in school history to hit the century mark in blocks. In his career (96 games as a starter), Peatling has averaged 10.6 points, 6.1 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 0.9 blocked shots and 0.7 steals. He now has 22 double-doubles in his career – including 14 this season and 11 in the last 15 games -- with a record of 20-2. He is now just the sixth player in school history to have at least 1,000 points and 525 rebounds in his career. Coming to Eastern from Melbourne, Australia, Peatling is only the second player to couple that with 50 blocked shots. Fellow Australian Venky Jois had 1,803 points, 1,015 rebounds and 240 blocks in his career from 2013-16.
 
Peatling's 54 points against Multnomah on Dec. 13 broke a nearly 50-year conference record of 53 points and shattered the previous school record of 45. His 24 field goals made were league and EWU records, and his 30 attempts were the most all-time at Eastern as he earned the first of his four Big Sky Player of the Week accolades. He also had 13 rebounds and four assists to finish with his first double-double of the season.
 

More on Davison . . .

Twice this season Davison has been the Big Sky Conference Player of the Week. He and teammate Mason Peatling were among the six players chosen league-wide as preseason All-Big Sky selections for the 2019-20 season.
 
Davison has three-straight 20-point performances heading into the conference tournament, giving him 23 performances in his career with at least 20 points (14 this season). He is 66th nationally and fourth in the Big Sky in scoring (18.4).
 
In helping EWU to a weekend home sweep to wrap-up the Big Sky Conference outright title, Davison averaged 23.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists. He sank 51 percent of his shots from the field and 7-of-9 free throws (78 percent). He had 23 with four assists in a 100-77 win over Idaho State on March 5, then poured in 24 with eight rebounds and five assists in a title-clinching 78-69 win over Weber State two days later.
 
In his now 87-game career (57 as a starter), he's averaged 13.2 points, 3.3 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.1 steals while sinking 45.7 percent of his shots from the field, 34.6 percent from the 3-point stripe (106-of-306) and 76.8 percent of his free throws. He now has 1,148 career points to rank 16th on EWU's all-time list of 1,000-point scorers, joining teammate Mason Peatling as one of 23 in the club.
 
 

More on Aiken . . .

Aiken joined teammate Mason Peatling in earning mid-season All-Big Sky accolades from HoopsHD.com. Aiken is fourth in NCAA Division I in defensive rebounds per game (8.2) and 36th in rebounding overall (9.7). He leads the Big Sky in both categories, and is also 38th in the nation with 12 double-doubles. Aiken is third in the league and 85th in the nation in steals (1.74), and his 13.3 scoring average for the season is 14th in the league.
 
Four of his double-doubles came at home in the preseason – 11 points and 15 rebounds in a 98-82 win over North Dakota on Dec. 8; 11 points and 11 rebounds in an 87-85 win over Belmont on Nov. 26; 16 points and 22 rebounds against Multnomah on Dec. 13; and 23 points and 10 caroms versus Omaha on Dec. 17. His 22 rebounds versus Multnomah were a career high and equal the second-most in school history behind the record of 28.
 
Thus far in his 61-game career (42 as a starter), he is averaging 10.0 points and 7.3 rebounds with 16 career double-doubles (12-4 record).