COMING UP: The Evergreen State College (5-19 overall, 4-11 CCC) is on the road this weekend to take on two of the top teams in the Cascade Collegiate Conference men's basketball standings. The Geoducks face conference leading College of Idaho (19-5, 13-1) at 6:30 p.m. (Mountain Time) on Friday and tied-for-second Eastern Oregon (18-4, 10-4) at 7:30 p.m. (Pacific Time).

COLLEGE OF IDAHO LIVE STATS AND VIDEO STREAM: https://portal.stretchinternet.com/yoteathletics/.
EASTERN OREGON LIVE STATS AND VIDEO STREAM: https://portal.stretchinternet.com/eou/.

ABOUT THE GEODUCKS: Evergreen is in eighth place in the conference standings with five games remaining in the regular season, and if the season were to end today the team would qualify for the conference postseason tournament. But, as stated, there are five games - including three on the road - yet to be played. The conference tournament gets started on Wednesday, Feb. 21, with quarterfinal games hosted by the top four finishers in the regular season standings. Semifinal games will be played on Feb. 24 and the tournament championship is scheduled for Feb. 27.

GEODUCKS BY THE NUMBERS: Pat Ling continues to move up the list of conference scoring leaders and now averages 17.7 points per CCC game while also ranking among the leaders with an average of 4.9 assists. Ryan Quigley averages 14.9 points and 7.2 rebounds, both in the top 10 in conference games, and is third in free throw percentage at 87.5. Jaurence Chisolm is one of the league's best field goal percentage shooters at 57.9. The Geoducks have the third-best scoring defense in conference games, allowing 76.9 points per game, and they score at a 71.1 clip. They shoot 68.4 percent from the foul line, 47.1 percent from the field and are negative 1.1 rebounds per game compared to their opponents.

EVERGREEN'S 1-2 PUNCH: Either junior guard Pat Ling or junior forward Ryan Quigley have led the Geoducks in scoring in the past 10 games with Ling holding down high-point honors in seven of those contests. Ling has scored in double figures in 11 of the team's last 12 games, including his career-high 31 last Friday night against Corban, while Quigley has hit double figures in eight of his last nine games.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Pat Ling earned Cascade Collegiate Conference Red Lion Men's Basketball Player of the Week honors after his outstanding performances last weekend against Corban and Northwest Christian. Ling averaged 28.5 points, 3.0 rebounds and 3.5 assists while shooting 64.1 percent from the field and 50.0 from three-point range.

ABOUT COLLEGE OF IDAHO: The deep and talented Coyotes have won nine straight games, are 11-1 on their home court and enter Friday's game ranked No. 7 in this week's NAIA Top 25 national poll. They have the conference's best scoring defense at 65.4 points per game and score at an 80.6 clip, giving them the top point differential in the league at 15.2 points per game. The 'Yotes rank first in field goal percentage allowed at 42.1 percent, and they are first in rebound margin, getting 7.8 more boards per game than their opponents. They also turn the ball over just 11.4 times per game, which ties for best in the CCC. The go-to players are both senior forwards. Roosevelt Adams averages 14.5 points and 6.4 rebounds per game while leading the league with 2.9 three-pointers made per game, and Aziz Leeks contributes 12.9 points and 9.3 rebounds per contest while shooting 61.1 percent from the field. Sophomore point guard Talon Pinckney averages 5.4 assists and 2.2 steals per game.

THE FIRST TIME: Evergreen went toe-to-toe with College of Idaho for the better part of 30 minutes before the Coyotes pulled away for a 77-67 win on Jan. 6 inside Costantino Recreation Center. Pat Ling scored 19 points, Ryan Quigley had 18 and Dustin Meade added 13 for the Geoducks.

THE SERIES: College of Idaho leads the all-time series between the two programs, 31-8, including a 17-4 record in Caldwell. The Coyotes swept the Geoducks last year by 71-58 and 84-60 scores.

ABOUT EASTERN OREGON: Conference coaches picked the Mountaineers to finish eighth in the standings this year but they have exceeded most expectations. The team is ranked No. 20 in this week's NAIA Top 25 and is tied for second place in the standings. Sophomore Max McCullough ranks second in conference scoring with 21.1 points per game, while freshman Jordan May has been a real find while averaging 17.8 per game. The Mountaineers average 79.9 points and allow 78.7 in conference games, they shoot 44.8 percent from the field and 76.3 percent from the foul line, and they are negative 3.0 in rebounding margin. They have been excellent in possession this season, averaging only 11.9 turnovers per conference game.

THE FIRST TIME: Pat Ling scored 27 points and dished out eight assists but it wasn't enough to prevent Evergreen from dropping an 88-79 decision to the visiting Mountaineers on Jan. 5.

RECENT RESULTS: Eastern Oregon has won 17 straight against Evergreen dating back to the 2008-09 season when the Geoducks swept the Mountaineers.

EVERGREEN 76, CORBAN 73: Evergreen built a 24-point lead early in the second half and then held off a furious Corban rally to take a 76-73 conference victory last Friday night inside Costantino Recreation Center. Pat Ling scored a career-high 31 points to lead the Geoducks in scoring.

NORTHWEST CHRISTIAN 91, EVERGREEN 83: Visiting Northwest Christian turned an 11-point halftime deficit into a 91-83 win over the Evergreen Geoducks last Saturday night inside Costantino Recreation Center. Pat Ling scored a game-high 26 points for the Geoducks, who also got 14 points and a game-high 13 rebounds from Ryan Quigley.