It was Big Sky Conference men's basketball at its very best – and Jacob Wiley made it even better.
 
The senior graduate transfer equaled the 16th-best scoring performance in Eastern Washington University men's basketball history with a career-high 36 points, but Weber State had the 11th and final lead change of the second half with 1:11 to play and defeated EWU 70-67 Saturday (Jan. 14) at the Dee Events Center in Ogden, Utah.
 
The Wildcats won their seventh-straight game and remained unbeaten in the league, but not before the Eagles led by as many as 12 in the first half. The game featured a total of 13 lead changes and 11 ties, including 11 of each in the second half. Eastern missed three shots after the Wildcats took the lead for good with 1:11 left on a 3-pointer by Cody John, who finished with a career-high of 24 points.
 
Wiley cut the lead to one with a three-point play with two seconds left, but Weber State provide the final margin with two free throws, followed by a desperation half-court heave by Wiley. Besides making his first two 3-pointers of the year, Wiley also had nine rebounds, three assists and a blocked shot as he made a statement of winning newcomer of the year honors in the league, and even candidacy of player of the year.
 
"Jake put us on his back -- what a super-human effort he had tonight," said Eastern head coach Jim Hayford. "I'm really proud of him. He attempted the 3-pointers, and if he makes one of them he keeps them off-balance all night, and if he makes make two of them, they really aren't sure what to do. Give him credit – he made both of them."
 
Eastern's two losses this season – to league favorites Weber State and Montana – have been by a collective total of nine points. The Wildcats were picked to repeat as league champions in both preseason polls, while Eastern was picked fifth by the media and seventh by the coaches. The two teams meet again on Feb. 23 in Cheney.
 
"It's a tough one, but if we play this well the rest of the way we are going to really like where our record is at the end of the season," added Hayford, whose team won at Weber State 79-71 in overtime on March 5, 2015. That was the last time the Eagles played in Ogden where they have recorded just five victories in 35 games there all-time.
 
 
 
Won-Lost Records . . .  
 
* The Eagles are now 11-7 in their 34th season as a member of NCAA Division I and 3-2 in the league as they begin their 30th season as a member of the Big Sky.  Eastern entered the game with a league-best RPI of 151, and is now 8-1 at home and 3-6 on the road. Eastern was coming off a 92-85 victory over Idaho State in which it made 59 percent of its shots from the field.
* The Big Sky's hottest team, the Wildcats improved to 4-0 in league play and 9-6 overall, having entered with an RPI of 188. They were coming off their sixth-straight win, a 91-66 victory over Idaho in which Weber State made 57 percent of its shots with a 14-of-24 performance (58 percent) from the 3-point stripe.
 
 
What It Means . . .
 
* Road wins have been a common occurrence in the Big Sky this season, and Eastern kept pace with its second of the season at Idaho State on Thursday. But the Wildcats protected their home court Saturday, and remains on top of the Big Sky standings at 4-0. Weber State is followed in the standings by Montana at 5-1, Portland State at 3-1, North Dakota at 4-2 and EWU at 3-2.
 
 
 
What's Next . . .
 
* The Eagles return to Reese Court on Thursday (Jan. 19) by hosting Northern Arizona at 6:05 p.m., then two days later EWU hosts Southern Utah at 1:05 p.m. on Jan. 21. The Lumberjacks lost to Sacramento State 74-62 on Saturday to fall to 3-14 overall and 0-4 in the Big Sky. The Lumberjacks host Portland State Monday (Jan. 16) before playing the Eagles. Southern Utah lost at home to Portland State on Saturday 88-77, and are now 2-3 in the league and 4-14 overall.
 
 
Keys to Game . . .
 
* Weber State's Jeremy Senglin, a senior guard, entered the game as the favorite for league player of the year honors, but his 18 points were upstaged by career-high performances by Eastern's Jacob Wiley and Wildcat Cody John. Wiley continued his string of career-high performances, having just scored 27 at Idaho State two nights earlier. John finished with a career-high 24 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field with four 3-pointers. He had entered the game averaging 8.9 points, with just six 3-pointers in 27 attempts for 22 percent. Senglin entered the game averaging 14.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.7 assists in three career games versus EWU, making 13-of-30 shots overall, 7-of-16 3-point attempts and 9-of-12 free throws.
 
 
Top Performers . . .
 
* Senior graduate transfer Jacob Wiley made 15-of-20 shots from the field, both of his 3-point attempts and all four of his free throws. He also had nine rebounds, three assists and a blocked shot. He entered the game ranked ninth in NCAA Division I in blocked shots (3.00), 21st nationally in field goal percentage (.605) and 77th in free throw percentage (.846).
* Junior Bogdan Bliznyuk scored 10 points, but was just 4-of-20 from the field with four rebounds and one assist. He entered the game ranked 56th nationally in scoring (19.1) and is 49th in free throw percentage (.865).
* True freshman Mason Peatling chipped in four points, five rebounds, two assists, two steals and a blocked shot.
* Senior Felix Von Hofe had only five points on just five shots from the field, including 1-of-3 from the 3-point line. He entered the game ranked 17th in NCAA Division I with an average of 3.29 3-pointers per game. He moved into sole possession of 14th in career 3-pointers in the Big Sky with a current total of 223, which ranks 37 from the school record of 260 set by his former Eastern teammate Tyler Harvey from 2013-15.
* Sophomore Jesse Hunt came off the bench to score six points and grab eight rebounds in 18 minutes of action.
 
 
Turning Point . . .
 
* The Eagles took their last lead of the game on a tip-in by Mason Peatling with 2:18 to play. Eastern had a chance to add to the lead, but an Eagle miss led to the go-ahead 3-pointer by Cody John at the 1:11 mark. Eastern's Bogdan Bliznyuk, Peatling and Felix Von Hofe then missed shots before Wiley's 3-point play with four seconds to play.
 
 
Key Stats . . .
 
* Neither team shot the ball particularly well, but Weber State's 56 percent shooting in the second half was the difference. The Wildcats ended up making 6-of-17 3-pointers in the game (35.3 percent), while EWU was 4-of-15. Eastern missed all seven of its 3-pointers in the second half. In league games only this season, the Eagles and Wildcats entered as the top shooting teams – Weber State at 52.4 percent and the Eagles were right behind at 52.2 percent. From the 3-point line, WSU was shooting at a blistering 50.6 percent clip and EWU was at 46.7 percent. For the season, Eastern is 8-0 when it scores at least 73 points and 5-0 when it makes at least 50 percent of its shots.
* Weber State, led by Big Sky player of the year frontrunner Jeremy Senglin, entered the game sixth in NCAA Division I with a .421 percentage from the arc, and was 21st with an average of 9.7 treys per game. Senglin led the nation in 3-pointers per game (4.36), was 10th in percentage (.488) and 37th in scoring (20.4). He scored 18 points on 2-of-5 shooting from the 3-point stripe.
 
 
Team Highlights . . .
 
* Jacob Wiley scored 19 points in the first 20 minutes, helping Eastern lead most of the first half. An 11-2 Eastern run, with the last five points scored by Bogdan Bliznyuk, opened a seven-point lead for the Eagles. The lead ballooned to 12 at 29-17 as Wiley scored 10-straight points in a 10-3 run. The Wildcats hit six free throws in the last 1:55 to pull within 28-25 at halftime.
 
 
Notables . . .
 
* Eastern is now 22-47 all-time against Weber State, including a 15-17 home record after last season's 79-77 loss. Eastern is just 5-30 all-time at Weber State, but won there 79-71 in the 2014-15 season to end the regular season. Earlier in the year, Eastern opened league play with an 84-78 home 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.
 
* In last year's lone meeting with the Wildcats, Weber State wrapped up the outright Big Sky Conference title with a 79-77 victory over EWU to end the regular season for both teams on March 5 at Reese Court in Cheney, Wash. 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. Knowing his team would have to play again in three days regardless of the outcome against WSU, head coach Jim Hayford 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. * So far, EWU is 3-1 against its first five foes of the 2017 league season – all picked higher than the Eagles in the preseason coaches poll. A year ago, EWU was 1-6 versus those same five teams. Eastern will reach the one-third point of the conference season on Jan. 19 when it hosts Northern Arizona.
 
 
More Comments from Head Coach Jim Hayford . . .
 
On Weber State Game: "It was a great game and Weber State is a very good team. We gave them everything they could handle. You have to give Cody Johns credit – he hit a big three and then he drew a tough foul. He scored those five points there. They defend the three-point line very well and we didn't make a three in the second half. And they did such a great job on Bogdan."
 
On Loss: "I learned a long time ago as a coach that the last thing you want to do is gain confidence from a loss. You can get better from a loss, but you can't feel good about it. It just has to put acid in your stomach that makes you want to turn it around the other way. I like the character of our team and I know each player is thinking about what he could have done better. You don't feel good about losing, but I am proud of our effort. Again, Jake was super-human. We haven't seen performances like that since Tyler Harvey and Venky Jois. I'm just proud of him."
 
On Home Games Versus NAU & SUU: "We just can't have a letdown at home. We did a pretty good job with that after losing at home to Montana and came back and got a road win at Idaho State. It's a long race in the Big Sky Conference and its tough travel. But we came out on the road and gave it our best shot both nights."