It's time to play for a tournament title, and Bogdan Bliznyuk was up to the challenge to get the Eagles there.
 
The Eagle junior scored a career-high 32 points to pace the Eastern Washington University men's basketball team past Bryant Monday (Nov. 21) at Reese Court in the Legends Classic sub-regional round in Cheney.
 
Bliznyuk scored 21 of his points in the first half, including seven during a key run that gave EWU a nine-point halftime lead. Cody Benzel added 12 with four 3-pointers made, including a pair during an important 11-3 run in the second half that gave EWU an 11-point advantage. The Eagles were out-shot 49 percent to 44 percent, but had a dominating 36-25 rebounding advantage and made their last 18 free throws of the game.
 
"Bogdan is obviously very special," said Eastern head coach Jim Hayford. "We're doing things to run offense through him as kind of a point-forward. He looked unbelievable tonight so my hat is off to him. He's a great player."
 
The Eagles advance to play Seattle in the championship game at 6 p.m. Pacific time on Tuesday (Nov. 22), while the Bulldogs will play in the consolation game against Louisiana Monroe at 3:35. The Seattle Redhawks beat the ULM Warhawks 81-75 in overtime in Monday's first game.
 
"We have a lot to prepare for in 24 hours," said Hayford, whose team will play the Redhawks in Seattle on Dec. 4. "Seattle presents a 7-foot, 3-inch problem (Aaron Menzies), and a zone they are really good at. If you look at most everybody they play, it's like going to the dentist. It's going to be a tough game, and there is a lot of respect and familiarity between the two teams. It's neat to be playing for a tournament championship on our home floor."
 
 
Won-Lost Records . . .  
 
* The Eagles are 2-2, having opened the season with a 70-47 victory over Linfield on Nov. 11 and then falling at Northwestern and Texas in a pair of road games in the Legends Classic. Seattle will also enter the title game with a 2-2 record. Both Bryant and Louisiana Monroe are 1-3, and will play in the consolation game at Reese Court at 3:35 p.m.
 
* The Eagles finished the 2015-16 season with an 18-16 record and advanced to the second round of the College Basketball Invitational, including the school's first NCAA Division I postseason win with a 79-72 victory over Pepperdine. Eastern finished fourth in the Big Sky Conference with a 10-8 league mark.
 
 
What It Means . . .
 
* Getting tournament experience is a good thing, especially since the Eagles could find themselves playing four games in five days at the Big Sky Conference Tournament in Reno, Nev. Scouting opponents live with a day turnaround becomes an important aspect of tourney preparation.
 
 
What's Next . . .
 
* Eastern takes on Seattle at 6 p.m. Pacific time on Tuesday (Nov. 22) in the championship game of the Legends Classic sub-regional round. On Thanksgiving weekend (Nov. 26 and 27), the Eagles will host the Eastern Washington Classic at Reese Court. The Eagles will again travel the nation by playing teams from 13 different leagues. 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). The Eagles will take on the Redhawks again on Dec. 4 in Seattle at 1 p.m.
 
 
Keys to Game . . .

* The Eagles made just one of their last 10 field goal attempts, but EWU's defense also forced Bryant to miss 11 of its last 17 shots. Free throws played a big part in the Eagle victory, as they made 30-of-34 for 88 percent. In the second half alone, Eastern was 21-of-24, and made 6-of-6 in the final 45.5 seconds. Overall, EWU made its last 18 free throws in the game.
 
 
Top Performers . . .
 
*Junior Bogdan Bliznyuk made 11-of-15 shots from the field with a pair of 3-pointers, and also sank all eight of his free throws. He also had seven rebounds and led the team with four assists. He eclipsed his previous career high of 26 points at Southern Utah on Feb. 6, 2016. He had 25 just two games ago at Northwestern, and 22 in his last outing versus Texas.
* Senior graduate transfer Jacob Wiley scored 18 points and had a team-high nine rebounds, sinking 10-of-12 free throws and four of seven shots from the floor.
* Sophomore Cody Benzel made 4-of-7 shots from the 3-point arc and finished with 12 points,  
 
 
Turning Point . . .
 
* The Eagles led 44-35 at halftime, then Bryant cut the lead to three early in the second half. But the Eagles responded with an 11-3 run to regain an 11-point advantage, thanks to a pair of 3-pointers by Cody Benzel. The Bulldogs were able to cut the lead to three twice, but Eastern was able to maintain a lead for the final 24:51 of the game.
 
 
Key Stats . . .
 
* Eastern's Bogdan Bliznyuk has scored 50 points in the first half in EWU's last three games, including 21 versus Bryant, 20 against Northwestern and nine versus Texas.  Overall, he has scored 79 in those three games.
 
 
Team Highlights . . .
 
* Eastern trailed early 31-30, but went on a 9-0 run to take a 40-30 advantage late in the half. Bogdan Bliznyuk scored seven of the points, as the Eagles held the Bulldogs without a point for a 2 1/2 minute span, and without a field goal for 3:07.

 
Notables . . .

* Seattle lost in the second round of the Western Athletic Conference Tournament last season, then made it to the second round of the College Basketball Invitational before falling to Vermont. Louisiana-Monroe played in the College Insider Tournament and lost in the first round to Furman. The Eagles have never played Bryant, but are 13-9 all-time against the Redhawks and 0-2 versus the Warhawks, who were formerly known as Northeast Louisiana when the Eagles played them – the last meeting coming on Dec. 27, 1992.
 
* A year ago, Bryant was 8-23 overall and 5-13 in the Northeast Conference. Seattle was 13-15 overall and 7-7 in the Western Athletic Conference, while Louisiana Monroe was 20-14 on the season and 15-5 in the Sun Belt Conference.
 
* Eastern, along with Bryant, Louisiana Monroe, and Seattle, are four of the teams participating in this year's Legends Classic, and are playing in Cheney as part of a four-team sub-regional. The other four teams in the tournament are Texas, Colorado, Northwestern and Notre Dame, which advanced to the Elite 8 of the NCAA Tournament a year ago. These four teams, with a combined 85 NCAA Tournament appearances and six Final Fours among them, each hosted a pair of regional round games on campus before facing off at Barclays Center in the Championship Rounds on Nov. 21-22. All four games of the Championship Rounds will be televised on ESPN networks. The Legends Classic is produced by the Gazelle Group of Princeton, N.J. The Gazelle Group is a sports marketing firm, specializing in event production and management, client representation, and sponsorship consulting. Gazelle produces numerous nationally-recognized events, such as the 2K Classic benefiting Wounded Warrior Project, the Gotham Classic, and the College Basketball Invitational. For more information on the Gazelle Group, please visit gazellegroup.com.
 
 
More Comments from Head Coach Jim Hayford . . .
 
On Defense and Rebounding: "If we're going to be any good this year, we're going to have to make some really good improvements defensively and rebounding. We were plus 11 on the boards tonight, and that may not have happened the last two years when we had to keep scoring to keep leads. Our defense kept us in it tonight."
 
On Victory After News Julian Harrell Would be Lost for the Season with a Shoulder Injury: "This is a win, and we're happy to win. You put your uniforms on and you play to win. We had an emotional hit to our team this weekend to find out that Julian's season was over. I think that was hard on the players and hard to get back up for practice. We were also coming off two games – we played pretty well at Northwestern and we started the Texas game well – but we may have been doubting ourselves a little bit."
 
On Progress: "We're a work in progress – we started a freshman, a sophomore and a junior, and our first sub off the bench was another freshman. You just have to go and doubt your doubts, fight through it and play, and we'll form an identity."
 
On Bulldogs: "I thought Bryant was a hard team to guard. When I watched the Gonzaga film, that team kept playing hard all night against Gonzaga. We'll take it – it's a win."