Fast starts have been common for the Eagles in their last 10 victories, but Thursday (Feb. 18) they took it to a new level.
 
The Eastern Washington University men's basketball team made 15 of its first 19 shots to open an early double-digit lead, and ended up using a 53 percent shooting night to defeat Sacramento State 93-88 in a Big Sky Conference game at The Nest in Sacramento, Calif.
 
The Eagles led by 18 at halftime and by as many as 20 early in the second half. The Hornets put together runs of 9-0 and 12-2 in the second half to cut the lead to four with 17 seconds left. But the Eagles sank just enough free throws – 7-of-13 in the final 3:10 to hold on for the win.
 
Six Eagles scored in double figures, including a career-high 15 off the bench by sophomore Sir Washington. Sophomore Bogdan Bliznyuk and senior Venky Jois both had double-doubles, and Austin McBroom sank 13-of-18 free throws to finish with 22 points and seven assists.
 
"I'm really proud of our team for coming out and executing our game plan very well," said Eastern head coach Jim Hayford. "We just shot the ball fantastic and adjusted to all their adjusting defenses. Sir gave us a huge spark off the bench. Their bigs are bigger than our bigs, but Venky and Bogdan held their own and out-rebounded them. Austin got fouled about 20 times tonight, but kept taking the hits."
 
Eastern won for the seventh-straight time -- its longest in 12 years -- and has now won 10 of its last 12 since opening the league season 0-2. The Eagles have now led 93 percent of the time during its winning streak and 91 percent of the time in those 10 wins, and have won their last eight games when they've made at least half of their shots.
 
"I would have like us to finish the game a little better and we turned it over a lot, so that is something we'll have to coach through and get better at," said Hayford, whose team was guilty of 14 turnovers. "But at the end of the day, we'll take the road win here. It's a good road win."
 
 
 
Won-Lost Records . . .  
 
* The Eagles are now 16-10 overall and 10-4 in the league, with a 6-10 record on the road and perfect 10-0 mark at home. In league games, EWU is 7-0 at Reese Court and 3-4 on the road.
 
* The Hornets are 3-10 in the league and 10-14 overall, after entering the league season a 7-4 non-conference mark. Sac State has lost its last four games.
 
 
 
What It Means . . .
 
* With its third-straight road win, Eastern successfully began a stretch in which it will play its final three games of the league season away from Reese Court. Aided by a loss on Thursday by Idaho State, Eastern solidified its hold on third place in the Big Sky Conference standings, but still has a battle on its hands to remain in the top four in the conference and earn one of four first-round byes in the Big Sky Conference Tournament March 8-12 in Reno.
 
 
 
What's Next . . .
 
* Eastern plays Saturday (Feb. 20) at Portland State before playing its lone game the following week on Feb. 27 at Idaho. Portland State is now 4-9 in the Big Sky and 8-16 overall after an 80-74 home loss Thursday versus Idaho, giving the Vikings a five-game losing streak.  The Eagles close the league season at home versus Idaho State on March 3 and Weber State on March 5.
 
 
 
Keys to Game . . .
 
* Entering the week, Eastern was ranked in the top 20 in four different offensive categories in NCAA Division I, and was the most efficient team in the nation with an average of 1.049 points per possession (Michigan and North Florida were No. 2 at 1.043). A 65 percent first half shooting led to a 57-40 advantage at intermission, but the second half the Eagles shot at just a 38 percent clip to allow the Hornets to creep back into the contest. For the game, Eastern sank 53 percent to increase its shooting percentage to over 50 percent for the season. The Eagles were sixth entering the game with 49.9 percent accuracy.


 
Top Performers . . .
 
* Senior graduate transfer Austin McBroom scored 20, making 13-of-18 free throws and 3-of-13 from the field. He had seven assists, equaling his best this season against a NCAA Division I opponent. McBroom went into the game ranked third in the nation in 3-pointers per game (3.71), 13th in scoring (21.3) and 19th in 3-point field goal percentage (.438).
 
* Senior Venky Jois had his 10th double-double of the season and 36th of his career, finishing with 18 points, 13 rebounds, two assists and three dunks. He went into the game ranked second in NCAA Division I with a .687 shooting percentage and made 8-of-10 against the Hornets to improve to 22-of-25 in his last three games. In his last eight games, the only times he didn't have a double-double he finished a rebound shy.
 
* Junior Felix Von Hofe scored 17 for the Eagles on 4-of-7 shooting from the 3-point stripe and 5-of-9 overall.
 
* Sophomore Sir Washington made 7of-10 shots from the field to finish with 15 points and equal his career high. It was his most in his career against a Division I opponent, and matched his overall career high of 15 against Great Falls (12/6/15).
 
* Sophomore Bogdan Bliznyuk finished with 10 points and 12 rebounds, giving him six double-doubles this season and eight in his career.
 
* Junior Julian Harrell was the sixth Eagle in double figures, finishing with 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting.
 
* Senior Kyle Reid did not score, but contributed three minutes and two steals in 10 minutes of action.
 
 
 
Turning Point . . .
 
* Eastern made its first eight shots, and was 15-of-19 when they completed a 15-2 run and open a 39-23 lead with 8:38 left in the first half. The Eagles would add 19 more points in the half to lead 58-40 at halftime with its highest-scoring half against a NCAA Division I opponent this season. Sir Washington led the way with 13 first-half points in helping EWU to a 65 percent shooting half. The Eagles, ranked sixth in NCAA Division I with a season accuracy rate of 49.9 percent, finished at 53 percent and are now 12-2 when making at least 50 percent.
 
 
 
Key Stats . . .
 
* Eastern's seven-game winning streak is its best since the 2003-04 season when the Eagles won 11 in a row – all during conference play. Eastern's longest winning streak during last year's 26-9 campaign was six games. Both the 2004 and 2015 squads advanced to the NCAA Tournament.
 
* For the second-straight time against Sacramento State, both Venky Jois and Bogdan Bliznyuk finished with double-doubles. They combined for 28 points on 12-of-19 shooting and 25 rebounds, helping the Eagles to a 40-36 advantage on the boards. After allowing eight offensive rebounds in the first half, the Eagles allowed just four in the second half.
 
 
 
Team Highlights . . .
 
* Senior Venky Jois, only the third player in the 53-year history of the Big Sky Conference to have more than 1,600 points and 900 rebounds in his career, moved closer to the EWU career scoring record. Now with 1,697 points as an Eagle, he is only 44 points behind the school record of 1,741 held by Ron Cox (1974-77). Jois' school-record total of 231 blocked shots are 16 from the league record of 247 (Brian Qvale, Montana, 2008-11). Jois also has 963 rebounds in his career to rank third in school history and sixth all-time in the Big Sky, and is 13th in the league in career scoring. He already holds school records for dunks (148) and free throws attempted (623).
 
* Eastern is now 13-0 this season when it has a better field goal percentage than its opponent, and 3-10 when it has been out-shot. The Eagles are also 8-1 when allowing 71 points or fewer, and 7-1 when their opponent makes 44.9 percent or less from the field. Against Sacramento State, the Eagles won for the eighth-straight time when they've made at least 50 percent of their shots. Eastern is now 12-2 this season when making at least 50 percent.
 
 
 
Notables . . .
 
* Eastern has led 93 percent of the time in its seven-game winning streak, and 91 percent in its last 10 victories.
 
* Eastern has now led at halftime in 20 of 26 games this season, and has a 16-4 record in those 20 games.
 
* Eastern is 10-2 with Julian Harrell in the starting lineup, and the lone losses were 85-71 at Montana State on Jan. 21 and 74-69 at Montana on Jan. 23. Harrell missed EWU's first 13 games of the season with a hand injury.
 
* Featuring a school-record performance with 20 3-pointers against Portland State on Jan. 28, Eastern's average of 10.6 3-pointers per game is sixth in NCAA Division I (previously fourth after eight games) and leads the Big Sky.
 
* Since Eastern became a member of NCAA Division I in the 1983-84 season, the Eagles are now 31-14 versus Sacramento State, and the two schools did not play against each other prior to that. The Eagles have won 24 of their last 34 games against the Hornets, and have a 19-3 record versus Sacramento State in Cheney, are 11-11 in Sacramento and 1-0 on a neutral court. That neutral site game came in the quarterfinals of the Big Sky Conference Tournament last year in Missoula, when the Eagles won 91-83. Felix Von Hofe came off the bench to score a career-high 23 points with seven 3-pointers made, helping EWU lead by as many as 26 in the second half. At one point, the Eagles made 16-of-17 shots from the field, including seven of its last eight in the first half and their first nine of the second half. Earlier in the season, Eastern won 64-61 at home and lost 90-77 in Sacramento.
 
* In the previous meeting, Venky Jois and sophomore Bogdan Bliznyuk both recorded double-doubles, and the Eagles rode their defense in the second half for a 74-67 victory over Sacramento State on Jan. 30. Eastern led from start-to-finish and held the Hornets to 35 percent shooting in the second half. Eastern was just 1-of-20 from the 3-point line, but made 19-of-24 free throws (79 percent) – including eight made charity shots in the last 1:55.
 
 
 
More Comments from Head Coach Jim Hayford . . .
 
On Senior Kyle Reid: "Kyle gave us some really good minutes off the bench. It didn't show up in the scoring column, but he came up with a couple of big steals and was big on the glass. Those 10 minutes were really needed by our team."
 
On Rebounding & Free Throws: "They only had four offensive boards in the second half, and that was really big. We did a good job of keeping them off the offensive boards in the second half. We needed to shoot free throws a little better than we did – Austin is a really good free throw shooter. We also won with Venky having a tough night on the line. We'll take a great win, enjoy it and then focus on Portland State on Friday."
 
On Quick Starts: "We have to give our staff a lot of credit. They have a lot of credibility with the players. Shantay, Chris and David are putting together what we've done as a staff and meeting with players in small groups. We are watching a lot of video on Friday nights, even at home so we can keep the road routine at home. They are coaching really well and the players are listening to them. And our players have incredible confidence, and one of the most important things you have to do as a coach is give your players incredible confidence. They are extremely confident that nobody can stop them. It's not always true, but you want your team to believe in that and feel that. They put it all together and we always seem to be ready to answer the opening bell. The results are great."