Eagles try to return to postseason

The Eastern Washington basketball team has not reached postseason play in three years, and coach Kirk Earlywine hopes a team with five returning seniors can break that streak.

Much depends on the play of guard Benny Valentine and center Brandon Moore.

The 5-foot-7 Valentine, a transfer from Texas Tech, finished third in the league with a 15.2 scoring average. But he made just 40 percent of his shots. He led Eastern in scoring in 15 games.

"We need Benny to be more judicious with his shot selections," said Earlywine. "He took too many bad shots last year."

Moore was the only Eagle to start all 30 games and averaged 11.2 points and 6.8 rebounds per game.

The Eagles, who finished at 12-18, 6-10 Big Sky, failed to qualify for the six-team Big Sky tournament for the third year in a row, after playing in nine consecutive tournaments.

"Last year was disappointing because we thought we were going to make that jump," said Earlywine, who was 11-19 his first season. "For us to take that step, we need our seniors to have a good year."

Also back are guard Gary Gibson and forwards Matthew Brunell and Mark Dunn

Brunell and Dunn are role players in the post. The 6-foot-8, 260-pound Dunn averaged 5.6 points and 3.3 rebounds. He was the team's top field goal shooter at 48.9 percent.

The 6-foot-8 Brunell played in all 30 games and averaged 2.1 points and 2.1 rebounds per game.

Earlywine redshirted two freshmen in 2008-09, and both are expected to contribute to EWU this season. Kevin Winford is a 5-foot-11 point guard from Anchorage, Alaska, and Abebe Demissie is a 6-5 forward who played for Rainier Beach High in Seattle.

Eastern's schedule includes non-conference games against Washington State and Gonzaga. They also play at Nevada, Brigham Young and at the four-team Las Vegas Classic at the Orleans Arena on Dec. 22-23.

Eastern opens its league schedule on the early date of Dec. 5.