Eastern Washington University Athletics

Eastern's sharp-shooting was at its finest Friday afternoon (Nov. 11) at Reese Court, and the Eagles will need much of the same in the next two games.
 
Felix Von Hofe and Cody Benzel combined to sink 12 3-point shots and the Eastern Washington University men's basketball team officially opened the 2016-17 season Friday (Nov. 11) with a 70-47 victory over Linfield in Cheney, Wash. A 19-0 run and 8:07 scoreless stretch in the first half turned a 30-23 Eagle lead into a 49-23 advantage in the second half.
 
Von Hofe had 21 points and made seven 3-pointers to come three from the school record of 10. Benzel had four of his five treys in the first half and finished with 17 points. Eastern made 16-of-32 as a team for 50 percent versus the zone defense of the Wildcats, coming four makes from the school record of 20.
 
"We did some things really well, including our shooting," said Eastern head coach Jim Hayford. "If you are going to play a zone for 40 minutes, we're going to get the ball to our shooters. Felix was good all night and Cody was amazing in the first half."
 
 
Won-Lost Records . . .  
 
* The game was the season opener for both teams. Last season, Eastern finished 18-16 and won its first-ever NCAA Division I postseason game. Linfield, a member of NCAA Division III and the Northwest Conference, was 11-14.
 
* Eastern is now 2-0 all-time against Linfield. Eastern beat the Wildcats 104-54 on Dec. 8, 2011.
 
 
What It Means . . .
 
* The Eagles have now played two lower-division games to prepare them for the rigors of a non-conference schedule that will see them play teams from 13 different conferences. Eastern's schedule includes four teams which appeared in the NCAA Tournament a year ago, and four others who joined EWU last year in the College Basketball Invitational (CBI). Eastern beat Saint Martin's 80-69 in an exhibition game to unofficially begin the year on Oct. 30.
 
 
What's Next . . .
 
* The Eagles play 16 games at home this season, including five in the month of November alone. But before they get to the meat of their home schedule, the Eagles must play at Northwestern of the Big Ten Conference and Texas of the Big 12 Conference next week. As part of the Legends Classic, EWU faces Northwestern on Nov. 14 and Texas on Nov. 17 on the road. Northwestern finished with an overall record of 20-12 and 8-10 in the Big 10, losing to Michigan in the first round of the Big 10 Tournament. Texas (20-13 overall and 11-7 in the Big 12) lost to Baylor in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament and went on as a No. 6 seed in the NCAA Tournament where it lost to Northern Iowa in the first round.
 
* Northwestern officially opens its season tonight by hosting Mississippi Valley State. The Wildcats beat Illinois Springfield 89-52 in a non-conference game.
 
 
Keys to Game . . .
 
* Eastern held the Linfield Wildcats scoreless for a 8:07 stretch spanning halftime, during which Linfield was 0-of-11 from the field. Eastern turned a 30-23 edge in the first half into a 49-23 lead. The Eagles led by as many 27 with 10:11 to play before winning by 23.
 
 
Top Performers . . .
 
* Senior Felix Von Hofe made 7-of-12 shots from 3-point range to finish with 21 points, four rebounds and a pair of blocked shots. Von Hofe was 17th in NCAA Division I a year ago with an average of 3.18 treys per game.
 
* Sophomore Cody Benzel out of Spokane's Ferris High School had 17 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the 3-point arc and 6-of-10 shooting overall. He also had three assists.
 
* Senior Jacob Wiley, a graduate transfer, had eight points, seven rebounds and five blocked shots in his official Eagle debut. He was an All-American at Lewis-Clark State in the 2015-16 season.
 
* Sophomore Jesse Hunt started the game and finished with eight points, eight rebounds and three assists in 20 minutes of action.
 
 
Turning Point . . .
 
* The Eagles used a 13-2 run to open an early 21-8 lead, and eventually made 9-of-13 shots to begin the game. The Eagles used that hot start to take a 24-12 lead before Linfield chipped away at the lead. Eastern ended the half with a 10-2 run to take a 38-23 lead at halftime, with Benzel scoring eight of the points and adding a blocked shot
 
 
Key Stats . . .
 
* Eastern had 21 turnovers, including 11 in the first half. Linfield had an 18-10 advantage off turnovers, but EWU had a 16-2 advantage in 3-pointers. The Eagles also out-rebounded Linfield 35-27 and had a 14-10 edge in second-chance points.
 
 
Team Highlights . . .
 
* Eastern held the Wildcats to 33.3 percent shooting from the field, including just 2-of-17 from the 3-point line. After making 37 percent in the first half, Linfield was just 9-of-30 for 30 percent after intermission.
 
 
Notables . . .
 
* Eastern's 2016-17 roster includes three returning starters who were all honored on the College Sports Madness preseason All-Big Sky Conference squad. Junior forward Bogdan Bliznyuk was chosen as a first team selection by that organization, and seniors Felix Von Hofe and Julian Harrell were both picked to the fourth team. Last year, Bliznyuk averaged 12.4 points, 6.8 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game, and registered the first triple-double in school history. Von Hofe averaged 13.0 points and 3.1 made 3-pointers per game, and Harrell chipped in 8.3 points and 2.8 rebounds after missing 13 games with a hand injury.
 
* EWU's 16-player roster includes four other returning letterwinners, one transfer who sat out last season (Geremy McKay), three other players who redshirted in 2015-16, four incoming freshmen and Lewis-Clark State transfer Jacob Wiley, who began his career at Montana.
 
 
More Comments from Head Coach Jim Hayford . . .
 
On First-Half Turnovers: "We were really guilty of over-passing a lot. We shot over 50 percent from the field and over 50 percent from three – those were great percentages. Defensively we forced 12 turnovers. We did everything but take care of the ball and it was because we were just trying to be a little too fancy. So that has my attention."
 
On Northwestern Game: "Last year Northwestern played some zone and everybody will be looking at this tape, so it's all kind of the cat and mouse today. I could have helped our guys out more by taking advantage of the zone, but I thought we could grind through this one and be tougher. And I did think our defense was tough today."
 
On Linfield & Crowd: "I respect Linfield and I'm appreciative to them for coming up here and playing hard. They helped provide an opportunity to help make us a better team, and they are a class act and showed great sportsmanship. It's nice to see so many fans out here for Veteran's Day. At the end of the day, we play a game – and there were all these people in our history who gave their lives so we could all vote last Tuesday. I have great respect for them, and I'm glad we were the only thing open on campus today so we could do that."