After a league season filled with wire-to-wire finishes, this one came down to the wire.
 
Idaho's defense, rebounding advantage and a timely run were the difference and helped the Vandals pull away from Eastern Washington University for a 66-62 Big Sky Conference men's basketball victory Saturday (Feb. 27) at Memorial Gym in Moscow, Idaho.
 
Idaho used a 10-2 run to overcome a four-point Eagle lead, then hit four free throws in the final 1:27 to score its final points of the game. In finishing the afternoon at 43 percent, it was the first time EWU hasn't made at least half its shots since Feb. 4. The Eagles had five-straight performances of 50 percent or better and entered the game fifth in NCAA Division I at 50.1 percent.
 
Despite the loss, the Eagles remain in third place in the conference standings, tied with Idaho at 10-6. Eastern finished 1-2 in its final league road stretch of the season, and has still won seven of its last nine league games and 10 of its last 14 since opening the league season 0-2.
 
"It was a great basketball game, but Idaho was a little better than us today," said Eastern head coach Jim Hayford, whose team plays its final two games of the season at home where the Eagles are a perfect 10-0. "Their strength is their rebounding and they beat us on the boards. I thought we had great execution, we just missed our last five shots. Give them credit – they played good defense. We did some good things to keep it interesting all the way down to the final two seconds. We would love to play them again in the championship in Reno."
 
Eastern had won four-straight games versus the Vandals, including a 74-60 win in Eastern on Jan. 9 in Cheney in which EWU sank 53 percent to Idaho's 31 percent. The Vandals made 48 percent in the rematch, while holding EWU to 9-of-29 shooting from the 3-point stripe (31 percent).
 
The game featured six ties and lead changes, making it the third-closest game EWU has played – win or lose – in the league season. Eastern's Venky Jois scored a team-high 16 points, giving him 1,733 in his career to move just eight from the school record of 1,741.
 
"We came down here and played a barnburner of a game, and that makes it fun," added Hayford. "It was a great basketball game, and that's what you want a rivalry game to be like. But now we'll just move forward."
 
 
 
Won-Lost Records . . .  
 
* The Eagles are now 16-12 overall and 10-6 in the league, with a 6-12 record on the road and perfect 10-0 mark at home. In league games, EWU is 7-0 at Reese Court and 3-6 on the road.
 
* The Vandals are 10-6 in the league and 18-11 overall,
 
 
 
What It Means . . .
 
* Besides a pair of key games tonight, there are still six critical games next week in which the top seven teams in the league standings square off against each other. Those games, which conclude March 5, will be the most important meetings of the regular season to determine seeding for the Big Sky Conference Tournament, which takes place March 8-12 in Reno, Nevada, and includes all 12 league teams. The top four seeds receive first-round byes, otherwise, the other eight teams will play on the first day of the tournament and need to win four games in five days to win the league title and the NCAA berth that goes with it.
 
 
 
What's Next . . .
 
* Now tied for third place in the Big Sky Conference standings with a 10-6 record (16-12 overall), the Eagles host Idaho State on March 3 at 6 p.m. at Reese Court. The Bengals are 9-6 in the league and 14-13 overall, and host Montana State tonight. Eastern's Senior Day home finale on March 5 is against Weber State, which is battling Montana at the top of the league standings (both 13-2 entering tonight).
 
 
 
Keys to Game . . .
 
* With the Eagles ahead 56-62 with 8:48 left to play in the game, Idaho went on a 10-2 run to take a 62-58 lead, then closed out the game by making four free throws in the final 1:27. Eastern had its last field goal in the game with 4:58 left, and managed only four free throws the rest of the way.
 
 
 
Top Performers . . .
 
* Senior Venky Jois made 7-of-10 shots to finish with 16 points and five rebounds. He went into the game ranked second in NCAA Division I with a .697 shooting percentage and has now made 38 of his last 46 shots in the last five games. He has 36 career double-doubles, 10 this season and nine in his last 17 games.
 
* Senior graduate transfer Austin McBroom scored 11 points on 4-of-15 shooting from the field overall, including 3-of-11 from the 3-point stripe. He also had three assists.
 
* Sophomore Bogdan Bliznyuk finished with 12 points, eight rebounds and a pair of assists.
 
* Junior Felix Von Hofe chipped in 10 with a trio of 3-pointers, and junior Julian Harrell also had 10 points to go along with four rebounds.
 
 
 
Turning Point . . .
 
* The game was tied at 62 when Idaho's Victor Sanders made three free throws with 1:27 left to put the Vandals up 65-62. Eastern got good looks down the stretch, but missed its last seven shots, while Idaho made it a two-possession game with a free throw with 33 seconds left.
 
 
 
Key Stats . . .
 
* Eastern had had 12 turnovers compared to 13 for the Vandals, but the biggest difference was in points off turnovers. Idaho turned them into 16 points while EWU had seven. Eastern was also out-rebounded 35-26, but both teams finished with seven second-chance points.
 
 
 
Team Highlights . . .
 
* The Eagles led for 16:07 in the first half after an early 10-0 run – featuring five points by Venky Jois – to take a 15-8 advantage. The lead ballooned to nine points on back-to-back 3-pointers by Bogdan Bliznyuk and Julian Harrell, but Idaho went on an 8-0 run late in the half to pull within 34-30 at halftime. Eastern held Idaho to 44 percent shooting in the first half, 33 percent when not including a late stretch of five-straight field goals made.
 
 
 
Notables . . .
 
* Senior Venky Jois will enter Thursday's game versus Idaho State just eight points behind the EWU career record of 1,741 held by Ron Cox (1974-77). The 6-foot-8, 230 pound junior has 1,733 points in his 117-game career to rank 13th in Big Sky Conference history, and his 974 rebounds are sixth. Already only the third player in Big Sky history to have at least 1,600 points and 900 rebounds, Jois is moved into fourth all-time in the league in combined points and rebounds with 2,707 total, moving past Weber State's Willie Sojourner (1,563 points, 1,143 rebounds, 2,706 total from 1969-71).
 
* In an earlier meeting on Jan. 9 in Cheney, Eastern jumped out to an early 16-point lead and had its best defensive field goal percentage of the season to beat Idaho 74-60. Eastern out-shot the Vandals 53 percent to 31 percent, with Eastern's defensive performance its best of the year by six percent.
 
Eastern's Julian Harrell scored 14 points in his first start after missing EWU's first 13 games with a hand injury. Idaho's top two scorers were injured shortly after that meeting and missed several games, but the Vandals are back to fully health.
 
* The Eagles, whose 42 victories are already the most in back-to-back seasons in the school's 33 seasons as a member of NCAA Division I, have won four-straight games over the Vandals. Idaho is in its second season back in the league after an 18-year hiatus, and at one time had won 22-straight over the Eagles, including all 18 Big Sky meetings until EWU's 89-66 road win on Jan. 10, 2015.
 
* Eastern is now 13-0 this season when it has a better field goal percentage than its opponent, and 3-12 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 on Feb. 18, the Eagles won for the ninth-straight time when they made at least 50 percent of their shots, finishing 31-of-58 for 53 percent with 11 3-pointers, but that streak ended the next game versus Portland State when EWU was out-shot 65 percent to 50 percent. The Eagles, ranked fifth in NCAA Division I with a season-best accuracy rate of 50.1 percent, are now 12-3 when making at least 50 percent, and have hit that mark in their last five games.
 
 
 
More Comments from Head Coach Jim Hayford . . .
 
On EWU-UI Rivalry: "It's very healthy for Eastern and they are our conference rival. I think we earned some respect last year. Look at the games they've lost – they were only be one possession. Don has done a great job keeping this team together. I think we're going to hold up our end of the deal to be their conference rivals. They have a lot more rivals than we do – they have an in-state rival, a neighborhood rival and now they have a conference rival."
 
On Offense Versus Vandals: "They played some really good defense. We had balanced scoring and we wanted to go to a shorter rotation because we didn't play Thursday. We need to shoot a little better – credit them, but maybe at home they go in. Their defense was good, but we didn't do it."
 
On Defense Versus Vandals: "We played some decent defense. Our field goal percentage defense would have been fine if we would have had a few more defensive rebounds and they had a few less offensive boards."
 
On Venky Jois: "We got him 10 shots today, and he only had four at our place. Against their pack defense, if you don't shoot it well, you are going to get into a tough, grind-it-out game against them. We didn't shoot it well enough – 31 percent (from the 3-point stripe) is bad for us. Credit them."
 
On Current Position in League Standings: "We're in a great spot and we haven't lost at home all season. We woke up in a playoff position and we are going to bed in a playoff position. We worked hard all year. This game didn't hurt us as much as it would have hurt Idaho. But they did what they had to do, and if we defend our home court, we will be where we want to be headed to Reno."
 
On Playing at Home Next Week: "Our team has worked hard to defend our home court, and are undefeated at home. If we want to keep our playoff position and stay unbeaten at home, everything will be just fine. We'll put all our energy into that direction. Several of our players told me they will shoot better than you did today, and I said, 'I know you will."