COMING UP: Plenty of big-time talent will be on display when The Evergreen State College (8-13 overall, 5-8 CCC) hosts the Eastern Oregon University Mountaineers (12-11, 7-6) at 7:30 p.m. Friday and the College of Idaho Coyotes (13-9, 8-5) at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in Cascade Collegiate Conference games.

FOLLOW THE GEODUCKS: All Evergreen home basketball games are available either via live stats or pay-per-view video stream at http://portal.stretchinternet.com/evergreen/#. John Hammargren is in his fourth year as the play-by-play voice of Evergreen basketball.

A QUICK LOOK AHEAD: Currently tied with Corban University for seventh place in the conference standings, Evergreen remains in the hunt for one of eight CCC postseason tournament berths. The Geoducks play four of their final seven regular season games at CRC Gymasium. 

ABOUT THE GEODUCKS: Evergreen enters the weekend averaging 81.8 points and allowing 85.8 points in conference games. In terms or rebounding, opponents take down almost four more per contest than the Geoducks. Evergreen ranks second in the CCC in free throw percentage at .717, and it is tied for fourth in fewest turnovers per game with 11.3. Junior post Danny Powell currently leads conference scoring with 23.0 points per game, is second with 10.8 rebounds per contest, and fourth with a .833 free throw percentage. Senior forward Alix Hernandez is among the league leaders with averages of 15.2 points, 6.7 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 1.65 steals per game. In addition, his .441 accuracy from beyond the three-point line ranks among the best in the conference. Other Evergreen players among the league's best are Brock Otis with 14.5 points per game and Jarrick Mitchell with 3.2 assists per game and .465 three-point shooting accuracy.

DANNY DOUBLE: Danny Powell ranks fourth in NAIA Division II men's basketball double-doubles with 12, and he also ranks fourth in rebounds per game.

FRANKIE CLOSING IN ON 1,000 POINTS: Senior guard Frankie Johnson heads into the final seven games of the regular season with 898 career points, including 180 this year. He would need to average 14.6 points over those seven games to break the 1,000-point barrier.

ABOUT EASTERN OREGON: Two of the CCC's top newcomers – and among its best players – are Evergreen's Danny Powell and Eastern Oregon's Trell Washington. Though he is listed as a 6-4 guard, Washington leads all of NAIA Division II men's basketball with 21 double-doubles and an average of 12.91 rebounds per game. He is also the team's scoring leader in conference play with an average of 17.0 points per game. Washington's all-around game also features 5.2 assists and 1.2 blocks shots per contest. Other top Mountaineers are senior guard Case Rada with 15.9 points per game and an .811 free throw percentage, and 6-10 senior center Kalvin Johanson with 12.4 points and a conference-best 2.5 blocks per game. Johanson, who has taken on more of a scoring load this season, shoots .667 from the field. Eastern Oregon, currently sixth in the CCC standings, leads in several league statistical categories, including field goal percentage defense (.392), three-point percentage defense (.292), rebounding margin (+8.8) and blocks per game (6.3). The Mountaineers are the fifth best shooting team in the league (.464) and averages 81.8 points while giving up 73.4.

THE FIRST TIME: Eastern Oregon used a 22-1 scoring run during a six-minute stretch of the second half on the way to an 85-65 victory over Evergreen when these teams met on New Year's Eve night in La Grande.  Brock Otis scored 16 points to lead Evergreen, followed by Danny Powell with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Trell Washington nearly had a triple-double for the Mountaineers with 16 points, 16 rebounds and eight assists. The win was the 13th in a row for EOU over Evergreen.

ABOUT COLLEGE OF IDAHO: The CCC coaches' preseason favorite to win the conference regular season title, the Coyotes instead find themselves in fourth place, four games behind Northwest Christian. That doesn't mean that College of Idaho isn't capable of playing with any team in the league. There is plenty of outstanding talent, led by a pair of NCAA Division I transfers. Joey Nebeker, a 6-7 senior forward who previously played at Boise State, averages 20.3 points and 6.6 rebounds per game. Aitor Zubizarreta, a 6-3 junior guard who transferred from University of Portland, scores 15.9 points per game and shoots .430 from beyond the three-point line. Another top player include dynamic junior point guard Emanuel Morgan, a 5-6 whirlwind who leads the league in both assists per game (6.2) and assists-to-turnover ratio. Marck Coffin, a senior guard, leads the 'Yotes with 6.8 rebounds in conference action. C of I, which plays at Northwest University on Friday night, comes into the weekend with the worst field goal percentage among the 11 conference schools at .407, including five consecutive games shooting under .400. While they score 80.6 points and allow 76.6 points per game, they average slightly more than four rebounds less per game than their opponents.

THE FIRST TIME: Danny Powell scored 30 points and grabbed a school-record 21 rebounds when the teams played on Dec. 30 in Caldwell, but Evergreen couldn't hold a second half lead and fell 88-81 to College of Idaho. C of I's Joey Nebeker led all players with 34 points, while Emanuel Morgan added 16 for the winners. With that win, College of Idaho improved to 27-8 all-time against Evergreen.

OREGON TECH 88, EVERGREEN 80: Danny Powell scored 29 points and Alix Hernandez added 20 last Saturday night in Klamath Falls, but the Geoducks dropped an 88-80 conference decision to the Oregon Tech Owls. Lavar Moore scored a career-high 36 points for the Owls, who rallied from behind in the second half. The game was close throughout with 16 ties and 21 lead changes.

SOUTHERN OREGON 88, EVERGREEN 74: Southern Oregon scored 15 of the first 17 points in the second half Sunday afternoon to pull away from Evergreen on the way to an 88-74 conference win at Mountain Avenue Gym in Ashland. Danny Powell tallied 20 points and 13 rebounds to pace the Geoducks, who also got 19 points from Brock Otis. Jordan West scored 25 points to lead the No. 18-ranked Raiders.