Upcoming Games (times Pacific)

Coverage

Radio: All Eastern games are on 700-AM ESPN in Spokane. Larry Weir returns for his 23rd season calling the play-by-play, starting 30 minutes prior to tipoff.
Internet Radio: www.700espn.com or www.tunein.com.
Radio iPhone App: Search for "Spokane Radio" and download app. An app is also available for tunein radio.
Live Stats:  http://www.suutbirds.com/liveStats/liveStats.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=20100 for SUU game; ewustats.com for EWU home games.
EWU Coaches Show: The shows, featuring head coach Jim Hayford & host Larry Weir, continue Mondays until at least Feb. 29 live at 6 p.m. Pacific time from the Swinging Doors Restaurant in North Spokane (W. 1018 Francis). Fans may attend the one-hour shows live, or listen on 700-AM ESPN and via the web at www.700espn.com.

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Cedar City can be a dangerous place for the Eastern Washington University men's basketball team.
 
Coming off an 83-74 victory at Northern Arizona on Thursday (Feb. 4) to move into a third-place tie in the Big Sky Conference standings, the Eagles will try for a weekend sweep when they play at Southern Utah on Saturday (Feb. 6) at 6:05 p.m. Pacific time.
 
Fans can listen to the game on 700-AM ESPN and via the web at www.700espn.com. All EWU home games and conference road games are broadcast on www.watchbigsky.com.
 
Eastern out-scored the Lumberjacks 50-28 over a 19-minute stretch spanning halftime to turn a three-point advantage into a 25-point lead en route to EWU's first Big Sky road victory in five tries. The Eagles sank 17-of-27 shots during that stretch (63 percent), including 10 of the team's 13 3-pointers made in the game.
 
But Eagle head coach Jim Hayford warns that Southern Utah is capable of the same sort of hot stretch, despite a current four-game losing streak. The Thunderbirds are now 4-16 overall and 2-8 in the league after Thursday's 68-44 home loss to Idaho, which joins North Dakota and EWU at 6-4 in the league standings.
 
Eastern soundly defeated both NAU and SUU earlier this season at home, knocking off the Thunderbirds 106-80. Eastern is 2-3 all-time in Cedar City, losing the first three times the Eagles played there. But Eastern has won five in a row against Southern Utah, including road wins in 2014 (85-74) and 2015 (78-75).
 
"They play really hard, and when they are shooting the ball well they are as good as anybody," said Eastern head coach Jim Hayford. "After they played us, the next game they went down and beat Idaho, then in the next game Idaho beat Montana. We have tremendous respect for Southern Utah. They attack the basket well and they shoot the ball well. They play as hard as any team and are very well-coached. We anticipate a really tough ballgame Saturday."
 
This week's road trip begins the second half of league play for the Eagles. It will be extremely important toward EWU's goals of finishing the season with a winning record and, perhaps more importantly, earning one of four first-round byes in the Big Sky Conference Tournament March 8-12 in Reno.
 
Following the game at SUU, the Eagles return to Reese Court to face North Dakota (6:05 p.m. on Feb. 11) and Northern Colorado (2 p.m. on Feb. 13) in rematches league-opening losses for the Eagles. Eastern lost 96-90 at UNC on Dec. 31, then lost two days later at UND by a 79-71 score.
 

 
Opponent/Series Notes 
 
* The Eagles are 6-4 all-time against Southern Utah (4-1 in Cheney, 2-3 in Cedar City) with a five-game winning streak. Last season, Eastern played the Thunderbirds just once, winning in Cedar City Utah by a 78-75 score for EWU's fourth-straight win over SUU. Southern Utah would go on to finish 7-11 in the Big Sky and 10-19 overall.
 
* On Jan. 14 at Reese Court, senior Venky Jois led the way with 24 points and 12 rebounds and Eastern displayed a superb drive game in powering past Southern Utah 106-80. The 30th double-double in the career of Jois was complemented by a 61 percent shooting night for the Eagles – which at the time was their second-best of the season and tops against a NCAA Division I opponent. Austin McBroom scored 25 points in just 27 minutes of action – the same amount Jois played. Julian Harrell had 15 in just 19 minutes. Eastern finished with 11 3-pointers, but attempted just four in the first half. Eastern led by as many as 19 points in the first half and 32 in the second half. Two hot stretches were paramount in the Eagle win. In the first half, Eastern had a stretch of making 10-of-12 shots. In the second half, the Eagles made 10 of their first 11 shots to open a 31-point lead at 78-47 with 13 minutes left on a 3-point play by Austin McBroom. Eastern led by as many as 32. McBroom sank 8-of-12 shots from the field, including 4-of-5 3-pointers to finish with 25 points. He also made all five of his free throws and had a pair of assists. Jois, who was ranked fourth in the nation entering the game with a .679 field goal percentage, made 11-of-16 shots with six dunks. Junior Julian Harrell, a transfer from City College of San Francisco who previously played at Penn, scored 15 in his second start of the season. He made 6-of-7 shots and also had three rebounds. True freshman Ty Gibson came off the bench to make all three of his 3-point shots and finish with 10 points in 13 minutes of action. Sophomore Bogdan Bliznyuk finished with a career-high six assists, and also had eight points and four rebounds. Junior Felix Von Hofe finished with only four points, but attempted just three shots – including no 3-point attempts after entering the game leading the Big Sky and ranking second in NCAA Division I with an average of 3.86 makes per game.
 
 
 
Venky Jois Milestone Watch 
 
* 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, is inching closer to the EWU career scoring record. Now with 1,630 points as an Eagle, he is only 111 points behind the school record of 1,741 held by Ron Cox (1974-77). His point total is currently 17th in Big Sky history, just 11 from moving into 16th, 16 from 15th and 33 from the No. 14 position.
 
* If Jois equals his 16.8 scoring average the rest of the season (including one Big Sky Tournament game), Jois would finish with 1,781 to rank 13th in league history and break the school record at home on March 3 versus Idaho State. He moved from fourth to second in career scoring against Montana on Jan. 23, with a first-half dunk moving him past the 1,550 points of Irv Leifer (1942-47) and in the second half he moved past the 1,564 scored by former teammate Tyler Harvey. Jois also ranks ahead of the 1,438 of Rodney Stuckey (now with the Indiana Pacers in the NBA). Jois became the fourth player in school history to hit the 1,500-point mark in his Eagle career with 24 against Southern Utah on Jan. 14.
 
* Besides his scoring prowess, Jois' school-record total of 224 blocked shots are 23 from the league record of 247 (Brian Qvale, Montana, 2008-11). Jois also has 920 rebounds in his career to rank third in school history and seventh all-time in the Big Sky. The only other players in league history to have more than 1,600 points and 900 rebounds are Larry Krystkowiak (Montana, 1983-86, 2,017 points, 1,105 rebounds, 3,122 total) and Steve Hayes (Idaho State, 1974-77, 1,933 points, 1,147 rebounds, 3,080 total). For total points/rebounds, Jois is sixth all-time (No. 5 is Jack Gillespie, Montana State, 1967-69, 1,543 points, 1,011 rebounds, 2,554 total) and No. 4 is Jim Potter (Idaho State, 1993-95, 1,810 points, 863 rebounds, 2,673 total).
 
* Jois is also currently on pace to finish 21st in Big Sky history and fifth in school history n career field goal percentage (57.4 percent). His accuracy as a senior of 67.9 percent is on pace to set a school record (Ron Cox, 66.0 percent in 1977) and rank as the third-best in league history. Jois also ranks on EWU's leaders lists for games played (111, ninth), scoring average (14.70, 10th), rebounding average (8.3, eighth), field goals attempted (1,129, third), field goals made (646, second), free throws made (339, second) and owns school records for dunks (139) and free throws attempted (593).
 
 
 
Game Notes 
 
* Coaches Shows featuring head coach Jim Hayford and host Larry Weir continue Mondays at 6 p.m. Pacific time at the Swinging Doors Restaurant in North Spokane (W. 1018 Francis). Fans may attend the one-hour shows live, or listen on 700-AM ESPN and via the web at www.700espn.com. Shows will continue through at least Feb. 29, with the show on March 7 depending on team travel arrangements for the Big Sky Conference Tournament in Reno, Nevada. Shows on March 14 and March 21 are also possible and will be determined by EWU's postseason fate and availability of Hayford.
 
* Eastern is 6-2 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, but is averaging 9.8 points and 3.4 rebounds on 53 percent shooting in nine games played.
 
* Eastern has now led for 117:23 out of 120 total minutes – 98 percent -- in its last three games, and has not trailed (tied for the other 2:37). The Eagles led for 29:45 at Northern Arizona, 38:25 versus Sacramento State and 39:13 against Portland State on Jan. 28 to continue a recent trend. Versus PSU, EWU opened a double-digit lead it never relinquished at 16-4 just 3:40 into the game, and led by 20 or more for the last 26:21 of the game and 27:13 total.
 
* Eastern has now led for 220:53 out of 240 minutes – 92 percent -- in its last six victories. In a three-game homestand in January, EWU led 113:30 out of a total of 120 possible minutes, sank 57 percent of their shots (99-of-174) and had an average winning margin of 21.0 points per game. Eastern averaged 92 points per game while allowing an average of 71. But proving just how difficult it is to win on the road, Eastern led Montana on Jan. 23 for just 3:29 and two nights earlier led MSU for just 5:23. In its five league home games, Eastern has led for 191:08 out of 200 minutes.
 
* Featuring a school-record performance with 20 3-pointers against Portland State on Jan. 28, Eastern's average of 10.5 3-pointers per game is sixth in NCAA Division I (previously fourth after eight games) and leads the Big Sky. The team's percentage is 22nd at 39.0 percent (previously 175th/33.9 percent after six games). Austin McBroom (3.5 per game) and Felix Von Hofe (3.1 per game) are ranked first and second in the Big Sky and are eighth and 25th, respectively, in the nation. Against PSU on Jan. 28, the Eagles made 20-of-31 to break the previous record of 18 3-pointers set against New Hope on Dec. 4, 2010 (the Big Sky record is 30). Eastern's 20 treys were by eight different players – six by Austin McBroom, five by Felix Von Hofe, four by Julian Harrell and one each by Bogdan Bliznyuk, Sir Washington, Bear Henderson, Will Ferris and Cody Benzel. Two days later, Eastern made just 1-of-20 in a 74-67 home victory over Sacramento State. A year ago, Eastern was fifth nationally with an average of 9.8 made treys per game, and its 40.0 percent accuracy was eighth-best in the nation.
 
* Eastern is now 9-0 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 7-1 when allowing 71 points or fewer, and 5-1 when their opponent makes 44.9 percent or less from the field.
 
* This only the second time in Eastern's 33 seasons as a member of NCAA Division I that the Eagles have scored at least 100 points in four games. Eastern also achieved that feat in 2006-07 season when Rodney Stuckey averaged 24.6 points per game when the Eagles averaged 84.2 per game to establish EWU's high-water mark as a member of DI. The overall record for 100-point performances is eight set in the 1970-71 season, and the 1971-72 squad had seven when Eastern averaged a school-record 90.0 points per game.
 
* Eastern's scoring average for the season is at 82.1 points to rank 18th in NCAA Division I and lead the Big Sky Conference through games of Feb. 4. Eastern had scored 290 points in its first three games for an average of 96.7 points per game to rank fifth nationally. Last year's team set a school record with 2,820 points scored and averaged 80.6 per game to rank third in NCAA Division I.
 
* Eastern has now led at halftime in 16 of 20 games this season, and has a 12-4 record in those 16 games. Until a 96-86 loss to Davidson on Dec. 9 and an 84-51 setback to Pitt two days later, EWU had led at halftime in its first eight games of the year. The Eagles trailed by eight and 19 points, respectively in those two games. Eastern has out-scored opponents 823-697 in the first half (average score of 39-33) and has been outscored 914-899 in the second half (43-43).
 
 
 
Player Notes 
 
* Senior graduate transfer Austin McBroom is averaging 20.0 points per game to rank first in the Big Sky and 29th in NCAA Division I. His scoring average currently ranks as the eighth-best in school history In addition, his average of 3.50 3-pointers per game leads the league (just ahead of teammate Felix Von Hofe) and is eighth nationally. His 74 total 3-pointers already ranks seventh all-time in single season school history. McBroom is also 23rd in the nation in minutes per game with a league-leading 36.8 average, and he is 50th in 3-point percentage (.418). He is eighth in the league and 137th nationally in free throw percentage, making 80-of-98 for 81.6 percent (he was 10th nationally after making 19 of his first 20). He has upped his assists average to 3.5 per game, ranking 10th in the league. The Eagles lost a pair of All-Big Sky guards from last year's NCAA Tournament team, but McBroom has provided an instant solution for the Eagles. He scored 76 points on Eastern's East Coast road trip, including 33 at Davidson on Dec. 11, 14 two nights later at Pitt and 29 on Dec. 14 at Western Carolina. His performance against Davidson included a 12-of-19 shooting night, and eclipsed his previous top game as an Eagle of 20 points (versus Pacific) and as a collegian of 26 points (for Saint Louis against Bradley on 11/29/14). He sank 10-of-17 shots from the field at Western Carolina, including 7-of-12 3-point attempts. His 19 points, five 3-pointers and five assists helped EWU win at San Francisco 81-77 on Dec. 1. He had a double-double with 19 points and 10 assists versus George Fox on Nov. 15. McBroom came to EWU with 97 games and 45 starts worth of NCAA Division I experience -- he played in 66 games at Saint Louis (15 as a starter) and 31 (30 as a starter) at Central Michigan in 2011-12.
 
* Preseason Big Sky Conference MVP Venky Jois is ranked a season-high third in NCAA Division I in field goal percentage, having made 67.9 percent of his shots thus far (he was a season-high third several times, as recently as Jan. 27th). His current mark is on pace to break the school record of 66.0 percent set by Ron Cox in the 1976-77 season. He is also 67th nationally and fifth in the league in rebounding (8.7 per game), 53rd/3rd in blocked shots (1.9) and 145th/10th in scoring (16.8). Jois has had six double-doubles in his last 11 games, including his 33rd career double-double against Northern Arizona (2/4/16) with 14 points and 11 boards. He had his first double-double of the season with 21 points, 14 rebounds, four assists and two blocked shots at Davidson on Dec. 9. Jois played in the 100th game of his career and became the 16th player in school history to hit the century mark on Dec. 14 when EWU played at Western Carolina. He equaled his career high with seven assists on Nov. 29 against South Dakota, which double and triple teamed him when he got the ball in the post and limited him to just three shots. He also went to the free throw line five times against the Coyotes to surpass the school's career record for charity shots. Now with 593 free throws attempted in his career, he broke the previous school record of 499 set by Dave Hayden from 1970-73. His 330 free throws made are second in school history, with Rodney Stuckey (2006-07) owning the record of 386. Jois also owns school records with 224 blocked shots (second in Big Sky history) and 139 dunks. He averaged 16.7 points, 7.7 rebounds and 2.2 blocked shots per game as a junior, and so far as a senior has averages of 16.8 points, 8.7 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.9 blocks. Jois has seven double-doubles this season and 33 total in his career. In Eastern's home sweep versus Portland State (1/28/16) and Sacramento State (1/30/16), he averaged 23.5 points and 10.5 rebounds while making 63 percent of his shots from the field (19-of-30) and 75 percent from the free throw line (9-of-12). He also had three assists, three blocks and a steal to garner Big Sky Conference Player of the Week honors. In a six-game stretch from Jan. 14-30, he averaged 20.5 points and 9.5 points on 53-of-79 shooting (67.1 percent) from the field, helping EWU to four victories. He had a huge weekend in Eastern's home sweep on Jan. 14 and 16, scoring 45 points on 21-of-28 (75 percent) shooting from the field, with a total of 11 dunks. Jois also had 20 rebounds, three assists, three blocked shots and a pair of steals. Eastern beat Southern Utah 106-80 and Northern Arizona 96-73 in a pair of romps that EWU led for a total of 73:22 and trailed for just 4:09 out of 80 minutes. He made 11-of-16 shots with six dunks to score 24 against SUU, and also had 12 rebounds to finish with a double-double. He made 10-of-12 shots from the field with five dunks, and added eight rebounds, two blocks and two steals in a 21-point effort versus NAU.
 
* Junior Julian Harrell, a transfer from City College of San Francisco who previously played at Penn, averaged 13.3 points in his first three starts this season (all victories). He sank 15-of-20 shots in those three games, including 6-of-9 3-point shots. In nine games played this season, he is averaging 9.8 points and 3.4 rebounds per game, while making 52.6 percent of his shots and 13-of-30 3-pointers (43.3 percent). His season high is 16 points versus Portland State on Jan. 28 when he finished with 16 points on 5-of-7 shooting, including 4-of-6 3-pointers. He made the first start of his career against Idaho (1/9/16), helping EWU to a 28-12 lead by scoring all 10 of his first-half points in that stretch on a trio of 3-pointers and a free throw. He finished with 14 points and three rebounds in a total of 25 minutes, then had 15 points in 19 minutes on 6-of-7 shooting against Southern Utah (1/14/16). He had two points, five rebounds and an assist in 10 minutes of action in his Eagle debut versus North Dakota (1/4/16) after missing the first 13 games with a hand injury. He also takes on the added role of usually guarding the opposing team's best player.
 
* Playing a key "blur" position for the Eagles, sophomore forward Bogdan Bliznyuk has had four double-doubles in his last six games, and a total of five this season and seven in his career. Included is the first triple-double in school history with 11 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists in a 96-73 victory over Northern Arizona (1/16/16). He made 4-of-12 shots from the field and both of his free throws, and also had three blocked shots. Not even Rodney Stuckey, now of the Indiana Pacers, or former All-Big Sky point guard Drew Brandon, were able to register the rare feat. He followed that with his fourth double-double of his career and third this season with 22 points and 13 rebounds at Montana State (1/21/16), and against Portland State (1/28/16) he had another monster game with 11 points, seven rebounds, six assists, five steals and four blocked shots in 34 minutes. Bliznyuk plays a position head coach Jim Hayford calls a "blur" because it shares attributes of a shooting guard, small forward and power forward. He has been used frequently at bringing the ball up the court, and is averaging 11.9 points, 6.4 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.4 steals with a deft ability to get to the rim. He has made 29-of-82 3-pointers thus far for 35 percent, and is 63-of-127 inside the stripe (50 percent) with an overall percentage of 44 percent. He has also made 49-of-64 free throws (76.6 percent). He was the Big Sky Conference Freshman of the Year after coming off the bench to average 8.7 points and 4.0 rebounds for the Eagles. It's an honor now won six times in the past 14 seasons by Eastern players, including current Eagle Venky Jois in the 2012-13 season. Bliznyuk, who also earned Big Sky All-Academic honors, averaged 12.0 poi­­nts in league play to rank 24th in the Big Sky -- tops among all freshmen. He was also fifth in field goal shooting (58.0 percent) and 12th in rebounding (5.6). Bliznyuk is formerly from Lutsk, Ukraine, but graduated from Todd Beamer High School in Federal Way, Wash., in 2014. He was less than 2 years old when his father, a truck driver, died in an accident. Their mother moved them to Federal Way five years later to be closer to family. Born with a gap in his upper jaw, he has had multiple surgeries after moving to the United States, included transferring bone from his hip. He officially became a United States citizen on Jan. 12, 2016.
 
* Junior sharpshooter Felix Von Hofe is averaging 13.7 points on the season, but in a five-game stretch from Dec. 14 to Jan. 9, he averaged 24.0 points with outings of 28, 27 (twice) and 19 (twice). In that stretch, he made 52.6 percent of his shots overall (40-of-76) and 50.0 percent of his 3-point shots (27-of-54), and also made 13-of-16 free throws (81.3 percent) and averaged 4.4 rebounds.  Von Hofe ranks 25th in NCAA Division I in 3-pointers per game with an average of 3.10 per game (he was third with a 3.86 average following EWU's game on Jan. 9) and is 45th in accuracy at 42.2 percent (he was 22nd with a 46.2 percent accuracy rate after Jan. 9). He was selected on Dec. 21 as the Big Sky Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Week after back-to-back career-best performances. The 6-foot-5 sharpshooter eclipsed his career high with 28 in a huge 74-58 road win at Denver on Dec. 20 on 9-of-18 shooting from the field and 8-of-14 from the 3-point stripe. Von Hofe finished two treys away from the school record of 10 and also had six rebounds -- two from his career high. One game earlier, he scored 27 at Western Carolina, which bested his previous high of 25 points set against Seattle on Nov. 18. He made 10-of-16 shots overall and 5-of-9 from the 3-point stripe against Western Carolina, for two-game totals of 19-of-34 (55.9 percent) and 13-of-23 (56.5 percent).
 
* Eastern's sixth-man, sophomore guard Sir Washington, has scored in double figures five times this season, including a 10-point effort on perfect 3-of-3 shooting against Portland State (1/28/16). Three games earlier he came two points from his career high by hitting all five of his shots and three free throws to finish with 13 points in a 96-73 win over Northern Arizona (1/16/16). He also had six points, six rebounds and two steals in 28 minutes at Montana (1/23/16). The Eagle sixth man opened the season with 11 points in the team's opener at Mississippi State, and topped that with career highs of 15 points and nine rebounds against Great Falls on Dec. 6. He also scored 11 in two other games, including Northern Colorado (12/31/16) in the team's league opener. He was injured and didn't play versus Idaho (1/9/16). He has started four games, and is averaging 6.0 points on 51 percent shooting from the field, and is also averaging 17.6 minutes and 2.8 rebounds with 17 assists and 14 steals.
 
* Six Eagles have already made their college basketball debuts this season, and five of them have played in at least 19 Eastern games. Those five were inserted into the starting lineup by head coach Jim Hayford against Great Falls on Dec. 6.
 
* Starting true freshman Jesse Hunt, a 6-foot-7 forward, made the first start of his career against Pacific (11/28/15), and is averaging 10.6 minutes, 2.2 rebounds and 1.7 points per game as a nine-game starter. He missed EWU's game at Western Carolina with a sprained ankle. Redshirt freshman Will Ferris, who came off the bench to play 23 minutes against Seattle on Nov. 23 and score a career-high nine points, is averaging 1.9 points, 0.7 assists and 7.2 minutes on the season. Ty Gibson has seen significant action as a true freshman, averaging 7.5 minutes and 1.9 points per game and starting twice. He made all three of his 3-point attempts and a free throw to finish with a season-high 10 points against Southern Utah (1/14/16). Redshirt freshman Bear Henderson has averaged 5.5 minutes and 1.8 points thus far, and started his first career game against George Fox on Nov. 15. Freshman redshirt Cody Benzel has averaged 3.7 points in an average of 5.6 minutes, including 23 points on a 7-of-14 3-point shooting performance against Great Falls on Dec. 6. He also had a 12-point performance against South Dakota on Nov. 29 when he made four 3-pointers in just eight minutes of action. All five of those players made their collegiate debuts in EWU's opener at Mississippi State on Nov. 13, and Ferris, Benzel and Gibson made the first starts of their careers against Great Falls. True freshman Michael Wearne made his collegiate debut versus George Fox, however, will now redshirt because of a hip injury requiring surgery.
 
* Making his NCAA Division I debut against Mississippi State on Nov. 13 was junior college transfer Rico Nuno, who had a career-high seven rebounds at Denver on Dec. 20 and is averaging 1.7 rebounds, 0.6 points and 6.4 minutes in 17 games played. He has missed EWU's last three games with a foot injury. Senior graduate transfer Austin McBroom made his Eagle debut against the Bulldogs, and junior transfer Julian Harrell played for the first time on Jan. 2 after missing the first 13 games with a hand injury. Three Eagles – transfer Geremy McKay, transfer Mario Soto and freshman Grant Gibb – will redshirt.
 

 
Quoting Coach Hayford
 
On Performance at NAU: "The great part is how we played in the first 30 minutes, and then had a big enough lead to close out the game. We played like we have been playing at home. We played 40 minutes and came in here and got a road win. It's what you want to do. If you are the better team, you want to come in in the first half and take the game away from the other team. Then you answer in the beginning of the second half and get separation -- we did a really good job with that. I'm proud of our team."
 
On Win: "It's great, but we have to credit coach (Jack) Murphy at NAU. He's teaching a young team how to finish out games and fight. We outrebounded them and knew we could go inside on NAU, and we had double-doubles from Venky and Bogdan. Austin scored 28 and we made 45 percent. It's a really good win. The game had so many possessions in the last 10 minutes – give NAU credit, they were making some baskets."
 
On Youth of NAU versus Experience of EWU: "When our team was young three years ago, we had to use every possession as a learning and teaching opportunity. What our team did at the beginning of this game is to say, 'let's go be us and impose our will.' That's good teams do, and we do have a veteran starting lineup. We can shoot free throws better than we did in the second half in order to pull away. But it was a great win and we'll take it. It was our first conference road win and we're 6-2 and have won three in a row since we've added Julian (Harrell) to the lineup."
 
 
 
Recent Game Recap
 
 Eastern led from start-to-finish for the sixth time in its last eight games, and the Eagles registered their first Big Sky Conference road win of the season with an 84-73 victory at Northern Arizona on Feb. 4 in Flagstaff, Ariz. Four Eagles scored in double figures, led by the 28 of senior graduate transfer Austin McBroom. Sophomore Bogdan Bliznyuk and senior Venky Jois added double-doubles for the Eagles, who kept themselves in the hunt for one of four first-round berths in the league tournament in March. Eastern had a torrid stretch of 13 makes in 19 attempts (68 percent) – including seven 3-pointers – to turn a three-point lead in the first half into a 14-point advantage. Eastern led by as many as 25 and no fewer than 10 in the second half in improving to 6-4 in the league. The Eagles held NAU to 36 percent shooting from the field in the first half, and held NAU's leading scorer – Kris Yanku (15.0 per game) -- to just two points. Yanku had an 0-of-5 shooting night, with Julian Harrell and Sir Washington guarding him. Eastern led for 39:45 of the game and, for the third-straight outing, never trailed and was not tied. In the game, the Eagles made 13-of-34 3-point shots for 38 percent and made 45 percent overall. Bliznyuk finished with his fourth double-double in the last six games, hitting a career-high six 3-pointers and finishing with 22 points and 10 rebounds. McBroom hit 7-of-16 shots overall, 4-of-10 from the 3-point stripe and 10-of-12 from the free throw line to finish with 28 points. He also had six assists and three steals. Jois, who was ranked third in NCAA Division I entering the game with a .676 shooting percentage, made 6-of-8 shots against the Lumberjacks to finish with a double-double with 14 points, 11 rebounds and three blocked shots. He now has seven double-doubles this season and 33 in his career. Junior Felix Von Hofe was the fourth Eagle in double figures, making 3-of-10 3-pointers and 3-of-4 free throws to finish with 12 points. He also had five rebounds.