If half the Weber State basketball team hadn't shown up late for a Monday afternoon meeting, we may never have known about freshman Eric Dates.
Because of the tardiness by five Wildcat players, including three starters, a star was born Monday night. Dates, who had played fewer minutes than anyone on the team this season, got a rare start and scored 25 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead Weber to a 116-76 win over the U.S. Coast Guard.The victory capped off the fun part of the Weber schedule, which will get serious in a hurry. The Wildcats face BYU tonight in Provo and come back to play nationally-ranked Purdue the Wednesday after Christmas.
Coach Ron Abegglen said the performance by Dates was the best thing about the expected win over the small team from Division III.
"We were able to play our freshman and get him out of the blocks," said Abegglen of Dates, the only freshman on the team. "He's been down a bit because of his minutes. But tonight he didn't even show all the things he can do. He's really athletic and we can use another athlete."
Dates, a 6-4, 190-pound guard who played for McKenzie High in Detroit last year, scored his 25 points on 9-of-10 shooting, including two 3-pointers and tied two teammates for high rebounding honors with 10 in his 26 minutes of action. The only negative was his 5-for-11 free throw shooting.
"I just try to play where I can," said Dates, who learned of his starting assignment right before the game. "My confidence went up a little bit tonight. But maybe I'll play just two minutes next game."
That well may be the case with no more Coast Guards on the Weber schedule.
With no players over 6-foot-5, the Coast Guard team was easy pickins' for the Wildcats, who had earlier toyed with a couple of other non-Division I teams, Central Washington and Oregon Tech.
The Bears did jump out to a 9-3 lead against the makeshift Weber starting lineup that was missing Johnnie Moore, Ruben Nembhard and Kirk Smith. But the Wildcats went ahead for good with a 10-0 run and when the usual starters entered the game midway through the half, the lead grew to 50-36 by halftime.
The usual starters started the second half, but most of them left for good with 12 minutes left and the lead actually increased with the second team in. The margin got as large as 43 late in the game before the Wildcats settled for their 40-point victory.
Jimmy DeGraffenreid, who picked up 26 points in his first start last week, had 18 points and 10 rebounds in his second start. Robbie Johnson scored 13, while Nembhard and Smith scored 11 in reserve roles.
Because Monday's game followed a Saturday night game in Portland, Abegglen and the Wildcats have had little time to think about the Cougars tonight. Defense is Abegglen's biggest concern, but he has other things to worry about off the court.
"This group has a hard time telling time," he said.
The Bears, who are coached by former Weber assistant Pete Barry, were led by Paul Howard with 14 points off the bench and Todd Wiza and Jed Boba with 12 apiece.