There's a bigger picture for the Eastern Washington University men's basketball, as the Big Sky Conference regular season for both Weber State and the Eagles ended Saturday (March 5) at Reese Court in Cheney, Wash.
 
While the Wildcats wrapped up the outright Big Sky Conference title with a 79-77 victory over EWU, the Eagles head into the Big Sky Conference Tournament as the No. 6 seed and will play Tuesday (March 8) at 8:05 p.m. Pacific time.
 
Weber State's Joel Bolomboy made a 3-pointer with 19 seconds left to break a 76-all tie in a game that featured six ties and six lead changes. Despite falling in its last four games – three by four points or less -- the team's 16 victories this season and 42 in the last two years combined are what pleases head coach Jim Hayford the most as the Eagles defend their tournament title in Reno, Nevada.
 
"The bigger picture is that we put together back-to-back winning records and that hasn't been done in 12 years here," said Hayford of the 42 victories, which are already the most in back-to-back seasons in the school's 33 seasons as a member of NCAA Division I. "This team has accomplished a lot, and they are ready to tackle the next step, which is the postseason."
 
Knowing his team would have to play again in three days regardless of the outcome against WSU, he played his bench liberally and used a full-court press to force EWU's most turnovers against a NCAA Division I opponent this season. Eastern scored 22 points -- three from a season high -- off those 19 Wildcat miscues.
 
Eastern seniors Venky Jois, Austin McBroom and Kyle Reid were honored in pre-game ceremonies, just one game after Jois became the school's career scoring leader in a 75-71 loss versus Idaho State on Thursday (March 3). McBroom had a game-high 30 points and three steals for the Eagles, while Jois finished with 12 points, four rebounds, three assists and a blocked shot before fouling out with 4:32 to play.
 
"I like how our team played – we played with tremendous fight and energy," said Hayford. "We took the best team in the league right to the wire. That's what I saw. I thought it was a great basketball game."
 
 
 
Won-Lost Records . . .  
 
* The Eagles are now 16-14 overall and 10-8 in the league, with a 6-12 record on the road and 11-2 mark at home. In league games, EWU was 7-2 at Reese Court and 3-6 on the road.
 
* The Wildcats finished 15-3 in the league and 23-8 overall, and were coming off a 62-58 loss at Idaho. They actually wrapped up at least a share of the title by halftime of their game with EWU after Montana fell at home to Northern Colorado, 78-72. Montana (19-10/14-4) finished as the No. 2 seed.
 
 
 
What It Means . . .
 
* Eastern will enter the Big Sky Conference Tournament as the No. 6 seed, and will play at 8:05 p.m. versus No. 11 (either Southern Utah or Northern Arizona). If the Eagles win, they will play two days later in the quarterfinals, also at 8:05 p.m. (versus #3 seed). There are still three more games left to play in the league season on Saturday evening, and those will determine the remaining seeds for the Big Sky Conference Tournament, which takes place March 8-12 at the Reno Events Center in Reno, Nevada, and includes all 12 league teams. Eastern will need to win four games in five days to win defend its league title and the NCAA berth that goes with it.
 
 
 
What's Next . . .
 
* The first round of the conference tournament takes place on March 8 (seeds #5-12), followed by quarterfinals (March 10), semifinals (March 11) and the championship game (March 12). Game times for the first round will be 12:05 p.m. (#8 vs. #9), 2:35 p.m. (#5 vs. #12), 5:35 p.m. (#7 vs. #10) and 8:05 p.m. (#6 vs. #11). The same game times will be used in the quarterfinals -- 12:05 p.m. (#1 vs. #8/#9 winner), 2:35 p.m. (#4 vs. #5/#12 winner), 5:35 p.m. (#2 vs. #7/#10 winner) and 8:05 p.m. (#3 vs. #6/#11 winner). The semifinals will include games at 5:35 p.m. (first two quarterfinal winners) and 8:05 p.m. (second two quarterfinal winners). The championship game is slated for 5:45 p.m. 
 
 
 
Keys to Game . . .
 
* Saturday's game was a matchup of two of the Big Sky's all-time greats – 6-foot-8 Venky Jois and Weber State's 6-9 double-double machine Joel Bolomboy. Jois played only 25 minutes and had 12 points, four rebounds and a blocked shot, while Bolomboy finished with 26 points, 11 rebounds and a block in 36 minutes. Jois now has 1,766 points, 989 rebounds and 236 blocked shots in his 119-game career to rank 13th, sixth and second, respectively, in Big Sky history. He is only the third player in league history to have more than 1,600 points and 900 rebounds. Bolomboy has a Big Sky record 1,268 rebounds in his career to go along with 1,437 points and 173 blocked shots in 126 career games. Career averages for the two heavyweights are 14.8 points, 8.3 rebounds and 2.0 blocks for Jois, while Bolomboy has averaged a double-double in his career with marks of 11.3 points, 10.1 rebounds and 1.4 blocks.
 
 
 
Top Performers . . .
 
* In his 126th game as a collegian, senior graduate transfer Austin McBroom finished with 30 points on 9-of-19 shooting from the field, making 5-of-10 3-pointers and 7-of-8 free throws. He also had three steals and a pair of assists.
 
* Senior Venky Jois made 6-of-11 shots from the field to finish with 12 points and four rebounds in 25 minutes. He went into the game ranked second in NCAA Division I with a .700 shooting percentage and has now made 54 of his last 70 shots (77 percent) in the last seven games. He has 37 career double-doubles, 11 this season and 10 in his last 19 games.
 
* Junior Felix Von Hofe also scored 12, making a trio of 3-pointers and 4-of-7 field goals overall.
 
 
 
Turning Point . . .
 
* With the second half featuring six ties and three lead changes, Eastern led by as many as 11 in the second half, but its shooting touch left them down the stretch. Eastern made only two of its last eight shots, while Weber State made eight of its last 10. The Eagles led 75-73 with 1:18 to play, but Joel Bolomboy's dunk and free throw with 57 seconds left and his 3-pointer with 19 seconds to play were the daggers. Eastern was fouled with three seconds left, but after Austin McBroom missed the second shot, Jeremy Senglin snared the rebound for WSU to end the game.
 
 
 
Key Stats . . .
 
* Eastern was whistled for a season-high 32 fouls, leading to opponent highs of 32 free throws made and 43 attempts by the Wildcats. Previous highs were 28 fouls, 24 free throws and 32 attempts. Weber State, meanwhile, was whistled for 22 fouls and EWU sank 13-of-23 free throws. The Wildcats out-shot Eastern 61-46 percent in the second half, after Eastern had a 56-33 percent edge in the first half. For the game, Weber State made 54 percent from the field and EWU was 47 percent, including 10-of-20 3-point attempts.
 
 
 
Team Highlights . . .
 
* Eastern began the game with a new starting lineup – featuring the team's three seniors – and the Wildcats jumped out to an early 15-8 lead. But the Eagles used a platoon system and a full-court press to force the Wildcats into eight first-half turnovers, and EWU turned those into 11 points. After making just five of its first 13 shots, EWU made 11 of its last 18 to take a 39-34 halftime lead. A 10-0 run helped give the Eagles its biggest lead of the half at 30-21 at the 5:43 mark.
 
 
 
Notables . . .
 
* With 104 3-pointers this season, senior graduate transfer Austin McBroom now ranks sixth among the seven performances in Big Sky Conference history with at least 100. Three of those previous six performances are by Eagles (Shannon Taylor 103 in 1999, Tyler Harvey 109 in 2014 and Harvey a Big Sky-record 128 in 2015). McBroom, whose 21.2 average entering the game ranked first in the Big Sky and 17th in NCAA Division I, now has 623 points to rank sixth in school history. In addition, his average of 3.61 3-pointers per game entering the game leads the league and is third nationally.
 
* Venky Jois now has 1,766 points to rank 13th in Big Sky history, 44 from moving into the No. 12 position (1,810). His school-record total of 236 blocked shots are 13 from the league record of 247 (Brian Qvale, Montana, 2008-11). Jois also has 989 rebounds in his career to rank third in school history and sixth all-time in the Big Sky (22 from fifth). 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 fourth all-time with a current total of 2,755, only 143 from No. 3 (Bruce Collins, Weber State, 1977-80, 2,019 points, 879 rebounds, 2,898 total).
 
* Eastern is 22-46 all-time against Weber State, including a 15-17 home record. However, Eastern is just 5-29 all-time at Weber State, but won there last season 79-71 to end the regular season. Earlier that season, Eastern opened league play with an 84-78 win over the Wildcats to snap a seven-game losing streak against WSU. Eastern had also lost the last five meetings at Reese Court, having not defeated the Wildcats at home since a 77-69 victory on Jan. 11, 2009.
 
 
 
More Comments from Head Coach Jim Hayford . . .
 
On Weber State: "What a great basketball game. We took the league champion right to the end. They made a very, very big play – Bolomboy hit a big shot. He had a big game and led his team to a championship."
 
On Regaining Mojo: "I think we did today, I really think we did."
 
On Confidence: "I don't think a lack of confidence has ever been an issue with our team. We came out of the Portland State game really disappointed we weren't going to be in the conference championship race. I thought we played really good at Idaho, but we had a few tough things happen to us. I think we could have played with a little more energy against Idaho State, but I think we played good enough to beat anybody in the conference against Weber State."