NORTHWEST NOTES: Thursday, Nov. 10, 2016
Gonzaga lands Kispert
in early signing period
SPOKANE — Gonzaga men’s basketball coach Mark Few announced the signing of Corey Kispert to a National Letter of Intent Wednesday.
Kispert, a 6-foot-6, 215 pound forward from King’s High in Edmonds, Wash., brings size and an outside threat to the Gonzaga roster. He will provide strength to the backcourt with an ability to hit outside shots and attack the rim. Kispert helped King’s High School win the last two Washington State 1A titles. He is a four-star recruit that is ranked No. 72 nationally by Scout.com and 81st by Rivals.com. He averaged 23.9 points, 6.8 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 2.3 steals per game as a junior. Kispert excels in the classroom as well with a 3.96 grade-point average.
Eastern lands four to
men’s basketball team
A quartet of high school players, including 6-foot-9 forward Tanner Groves from Shadle Park High in Spokane, signed letters of intent to play basketball and attend Eastern Washington University, coach Jim Hayford announced Wednesday.
The others signed include 6-6 forward Brendan Howard, who was Montana’s Gatorade Player of the Year as a junior at Great Falls High School. The third signee was Australian Jack Perry, a 6-2 guard who joins a group of five Aussies currently on EWU’s roster. The fourth was 6-7 guard/forward Kim Aiken, an All-CIF selection from Redlands East Valley High in Redlands, Calif.
Groves was the Greater Spokane League MVP as a junior when he averaged 16.0 points, 11 rebounds, 1.5 blocked shots and 1.5 assists per game. An honor roll student, he was also ASB Vice President at Shadle Park and a member of the school’s National Honor Society.
He led Shadle Park to a 16-7 record in his junior season, with the season ending with a loss to Kennedy Catholic in the regional playoffs of the State 3A Tournament. He had 11 points and 22 rebounds before fouling out in the 40-32 setback. He scored 17 points and finished with 11 rebounds in a 70-56 district title victory over Rogers. He is coached at Shadle Park by EWU graduate Tim Gaebe.
Cooper, Hinson sign
with Washington State
PULLMAN — Davante Cooper and Kwinton Hinson each signed a National Letter of Intent to play basketball for Washington State, coach Ernie Kent announced Wednesday. Cooper (6-11, 235, Center, Atlanta, Ga./West Oaks Academy-Fla./Bradley/Tyler Junior College) is beginning his first season at Tyler Junior College at Tyler, Texas, after playing his freshman year at Bradley in Peoria, Ill. At Bradley he appeared in 26 games in 2015-16, averaging 1.7 points, and 1.3 rebounds per game while shooting .429 from the field in 8.0 minutes a game. Cooper graduated from Orangewood Academy in Southern California, where he played both basketball and volleyball. He was the 2014 Express League MVP by the Orange County Athletic Director’s Association and a first team all-conference selection by the OC Register. Following graduation, he spent the 2014-15 school year at West Oaks Academy in Florida.
Hinson (6-4, 215, Guard, Fairmont, N.C./Fairmont HS/Tyler Junior College) is in his second season at Tyler Junior College where he plays alongside Cooper. Last year he led the team in scoring, averaging 13.5 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game while shooting .452 from the field in 28 games. He had his best game of the season at Lamar State-Port Arthur, Dec. 5, 2015, when he put up 36 points on .632 shooting from the field including .750 from beyond the 3-point arc.
The Cougars open on Friday at home against Montana State.