More on Jois, McBroom and Eastern's Game This Week
 
It was a 4-for-4 career for Venky Jois, and a 1-for-1 for Austin McBroom.
 
The two Eastern Washington University seniors were selected to the All-Big Sky Conference men's basketball team announced on Monday (March 6) as selected by the league's head coaches.
 
Jois was a first team selection for the second-straight season, while McBroom, a graduate transfer, earned second team accolades in his only season in the program. With 16 victories this year and a second-straight winning season, Eastern has 42 victories the last two seasons. Those are already the most in back-to-back seasons in the school's 33 seasons as a member of NCAA Division I.
 
Jois and McBroom help the Eagles begin defense of the Big Sky Conference Tournament Championship they won last season when the 16-14 Eagles play 5-24 Northern Arizona at 8:05 p.m. Pacific time Tuesday (March 8) in the final game of the first round at the Reno Events Center in Reno, Nevada. The winner advances to play Idaho (20-11) in the quarterfinals on Thursday (March 10), also at 8:05 p.m.
 
Fans can listen the game on 700-AM ESPN and via the web at www.700espn.com. All tourney games will also be broadcast on www.watchbigsky.com.
 
 "You want your seniors to get recognized," said Eastern head coach Jim Hayford.  "For both of them to be honored is really special. I know without our two all-conference players, we would have been a 10, 11 or 12th seed. I'm glad they were recognized for their contributions."
 
Jois was honored by the league for the fourth time, having won Freshman of the Year in the 2012-13 season and honorable mention all-league accolades in his first two seasons in the program. Just 15 players from a total of 12 league teams were honored this year.
 
"Our league has a smaller all-conference team than a lot of leagues," said Hayford. "So when you receive All-Big Sky recognition of any kind, it really means something."
 
En route to setting seven school records thus far, Jois has averaged 16.8 points, 8.7 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.8 blocks per game this season, and ranks second in NCAA Division I in field goal accuracy at 69.5 percent. Also an Academic All-District 8 selection, the pre-med major with a 3.49 grade point average will be honored later this spring on the Big Sky All-Academic team for a fourth time.
 
Jois was among the first recruits of Hayford when he took over the program in 2011, and in their first season together the Eagles were 10-21. But after seasons of 15-16, 26-9 and this year's 16-14 mark, Hayford knows the Australian's contributions to the program have been beyond the school-record 1,766 points (13th all-time in the Big Sky), 989 rebounds (sixth) and school-record 236 blocked shots (second) Jois has compiled in his 119-game career.
 
McBroom leads the league and ranks 16th in NCAA Division I with an average of 21.5 points per game. He is tops with an average of 3.66 3-pointers per game to rank third nationally. Now with 126 games of collegiate experience, he had a 3.92 GPA in his first year at Eastern as a graduate student in communications studies.
 
 "Venky not only came in very talented, but he was the student and teammate that we really needed," added Hayford. "He was willing to lead in all those different areas. That, along with having Parker Kelly and Tyler Harvey in our program, really set the culture for us to be successful. There are a lot of players who are really good players, but you can't build a culture around them. With Venky you can."
 
Weber State's Joel Bolomboy, who sank a game-winning 3-pointer against the Eagles last Saturday (March 5), was the league's Most Valuable Player and Defensive Player of the Year. Montana State's Tyler Hall was Freshman of the Year and the top reserve honor went to Kyndahl Hill. In the lone meetings against EWU, Hall scored 24 and Hill had 11.
 
"When I look at the league's individual awards, I thought they went to the players they should have gone to," added Hayford. "Bolomboy was clearly the MVP of the conference and I believe will be playing in the NBA next year. I hope the conference has a NBA draft choice every year (last year, Eastern's Tyler Harvey was drafted in the second round by Orlando). That means the league is getting better and better."
 
 "Hall is one of the best players in the conference, and he was a really good choice as Freshman of the Year," he continued. "Bolomboy is the best rebounder in the history of the Big Sky, and his choice as Defensive Player of the Year was fitting. The voting really reflected who the best players were in the conference."
 
 

2015-16 All-Big Sky Conference Team

MVP – Joel Bolomboy, Sr., Weber State
Newcomer of the Year – Ethan Telfair, Jr., Idaho State
Freshman of the Year – Tyler Hall, Montana State
Top Reserve – Kyndahl Hill, Jr., Weber State
Defensive Player of the Year – Joel Bolomboy, Sr., Weber State

FIRST TEAM
#Venky Jois, Sr., Eastern Washington
%Joel Bolomboy, Jr., Weber State (MVP)
%Ethan Telfair, Jr., Idaho State
Quinton Hooker, Jr., North Dakota
#Martin Breunig, Sr., Montana
Jeremy Senglin, So., G, Weber State

SECOND TEAM
Austin McBroom, Gr.-Sr., G, Eastern Wash.
Cameron Forte, Gr.-Sr., Portland State
Victor Sanders, So., Idaho
Marcus Colbert, Sr., Montana State
Tyler Hall, Fr., Montana State

HONORABLE MENTION
Geno Luzcando, So., Idaho State
Walter Wright, Jr., Montana
Anthony Johnson, Jr., Northern Colorado
Justin Strings, So., Sacramento State

#Repeat First Team Selection
%Unanimous First Team Selection