Northwest Notes December 20, 2011

| December 20, 2011 8:00 PM

Harris named WCC player of the week

SPOKANE - Gonzaga junior forward Elias Harris is the West Coast Conference men's basketball player of the week after leading the Bulldogs to a pair of victories, WCC Commissioner Jamie Zaninovich announced Monday.

Gonzaga snapped a two-game losing streak with a Thursday win over Oral Roberts University, the native of Speyer, Germany, scoring 12 points and grabbing 10 rebounds for his third double-double of the season and the 12th of his career. He went 5-for-7 from the field and 2-for-3 from 3-point range.

Harris came back Saturday with a season-high 25 points and 8 rebounds as the Bulldogs downed the University of Arizona 71-60 in the Battle in Seattle at KeyArena. He scored 14 of the first 22 points for the Zags, who raced to a 14-0 lead. Harris went 11-for-15 from the field and 2-for-2 from 3-point range.

For the week, Harris was 16-for-22 from the field for 72.7 percent, 4-for-5 from 3-point range for 80.0 percent and while averaging 18.5 ppg and 9.0 rpg.

Eastern faces WCC's Saint Mary's tonight

CHENEY - The Eastern Washington men's basketball team has played three Pac-12 Conference opponents this year plus a nationally-ranked Gonzaga squad, but tonight's opponent from the West Coast Conference might be the best opponent on EWU's schedule to date.

In the midst of a stretch in which it plays five of six games on the road, Eastern makes a short pre-Christmas trip to California to face Saint Mary's in Moraga, Calif. Tipoff between the Gaels and the Eagles is 7 p.m. Pacific at McKeon Pavilion. Eastern is 2-3 all-time versus Saint Mary's.

The Gaels are led by the 1-2 punch of forward Rob Jones (15.1 points, 11.0 rebounds per game) and guard Matthew Dellavedova (13.4 points, 6.0 assists). Their wins included a convincing 87-70 home win over Big Sky Conference preseason favorite Weber State, which currently has the best record in the league at 6-3.

After the Saint Mary's game, the Eagles open Big Sky Conference play on the road at Montana State (Dec. 28) and Montana (Dec. 30).