Wildcats seek road breakthrough

OGDEN — If the Weber State Wildcats ever needed a Big Sky road victory, it would be tonight.

The Wildcats, 0-6 on the conference road this season, will continue to try to solidify a position in the Big Sky post-season tournament when they play at Eastern Washington (7-16, 4-6 tonight in Cheney, Wash. Game time is set for 8 p.m.

Weber State (10-14, 5-7) will also play an ESPN Bracket Buster game against non-conference foe Boise State (10-14, 4-9) on Saturday. That tip is slated for 4:30 p.m. in Boise. Both games will be carried live on KLO 1430 AM.

During conference play, the home court has been good for the Wildcats, going 5-1 with still one game to go. In fact, Weber State defeated the Eastern Washington, the defending Big Sky champs, when the teams met last month in Ogden.

Fortunately, Weber State has momentum on its side with a pair of wins last week over Sacramento State and Northern Arizona.

Unfortunately for the Cats, Weber has lost three of its past four in Cheney and EWU holds the overall series at Reese Court, 11-9. The Wildcats are fifth in the conference standings and the Eagles are a full game back in sixth place. Depending on how things pan out in the final weeks of the regular season, EWU could finish anywhere from third to seventh place.

The Eagles are led by senior forward Marc Axton, a two-time first team All-Big Sky selection. He is currently the only Eagle averaging double figures at 16.0 points. WSU coach Joe Cravens anticipates match up problems inside, he also expects his team to perform.

"They are big, but we've had some great games in their place over the past five years and I expect Thursday won't be much different," Cravens said.

The ESPN Bracket Buster with Boise State on Saturday won't count in the conference standings, but will still be significant for WSU. It's the renewal of an old Big Sky rivalry. Weber State leads the overall series 41-26. The last meeting with the Broncos came on Dec. 23, 2002, with the Wildcats winning 66-65.

Boise State is led by senior guard Jermaine Blackburn. He averages 15.4 points and 4.8 rebounds. He is coming off a career-high 26-point performance in BSU's double-digit win over Fresno State last week.

The only other BSU player in double figure scoring is Coby Karl at 12.2 points per game. He is the son of NBA coach George Karl.

"They have been up and down this season, but it looks like they are playing their best basketball of the season right now," Cravens said.