EWU basketball team shares spotlight

For the longest time athletics at Eastern Washington University, and before that Eastern Washington State College, and in any number of renditions of the school's name throughout history, have resided largely in the shadows on the collegiate landscape.

Be it from down south in Pullman, or on Boone Avenue in Spokane, the Savages and Eagles were often athletics afterthoughts.

No longer is that the case and the most recent example was the Eagles stealing a little of that March Madness love that, for the last 17 years at least, has been largely the sole property of the Gonzaga Bulldogs.

Eastern football has, for the nearly the past 20 years, slowly climbed the rugged path to challenge WSU as a local football favorite. And now the Eagles can stand toe-to-toe both on the field, and in the battle for fan following.

This past weekend, Eastern basketball made a major headline and earned fan following rallying to beat Montana 69-65 at Dahlberg Arena in Missoula. They earned only the school's second berth in the NCAA tournament, are a No. 13 seed taking on No. 4 Georgetown in nearby Portland at the Moda Center.

Down 11 points with just over six minutes to play still had the Eagles' Felix Von Hofe in somewhat of a state of disbelief Sunday.

"It wasn't looking too good toward the end," the native of Melbourne, Australian told EWU play-by-play broadcaster Larry Weir. "It will be a while until the full gravity of what we actually did."

For Eastern's Tyler Harvey, hearing his team being announced also realized a longtime dream. "It's a great thing to see your name up there after watching Selection Sunday since you've been 5-years-old," Harvey told Weir.

What a dream-come-true and a reward for the hard work done by coaches and players who have crafted a school-best 26-8 record.

Several hundred Eagle followers found their way to Reese Court on rainy Selection Sunday. And like the players, they too anxiously waited as a lot of the 68-team bracket had been filled before Eastern appeared on the bracket line.

"To see your name up there: you know I told Felix (Von Hofe) sitting next to me, I've watched this show for over 30 years," Eastern head coach Jim Hayford said in a post selection press conference.

Hayford's been filling out his own brackets for over 30 years he said.

"I can remember being a little kid with paper and pencil and make my own bracket and write 'em in, and for the first time ever to see your name there, it was a really cool moment."

He's looking forward to challenging his many friends to pick his Eagles. "It's awesome to put all that pressure on your friends."

Because Eastern has been successful on big-stage situations all season, starting back on Nov. 24 when they went to Bloomington and knocked off the Indiana Hoosiers, 88-86 at Assembly Hall.

"The last two Saturdays we've played in front of 7,000 people at Weber and 7,000 people at Montana, both of them our guys are saying this is nothing, we played at Indiana," Hayford related.

"I promise you Portland won't be more hostile than Missoula was," he said. "I was called things at Missoula I didn't know I was."

The remainder of Eastern's season, however long it lasts, has, perhaps, more meaning for some of the seniors on the team. It could be the last seriously competitive basketball they'll play.

Senior point guard Drew Brandon has hoped, but really never thought he'd realize the dream.

"Never thought it myself (that I'd be up there), but it's been a dream my whole life," Brandon said. "I didn't expect that much joy when I saw it up there."

And for Parker Kelly, "It's the dream of any NCAA Division I basketball player to go to the tournament," he said. "And to do it in my senior year is very special."

"We're playing great basketball right now and we're playing it at the right time," Kelly said. "It's a game we think we can win."

Not surprisingly, so does Hayford.

"I've never taken my team out of a locker room in a game, anytime I've been a head coach and not expected to win," he said. "I want my players to keep that same mindset."

Georgetown is one of college basketball's elite programs with 30 tournament appearances, three runner-up finishes and a 1984 national championship on their resume.

The Hoya's are a big challenge, but Eastern has faced and conquered many of those already.

Paul Delaney can be reached at pdelaney@cheneyfreepress.com.