­­­­­­­Eastern Washington University "Eagles" Men's Basketball (2-9/0-0 Big Sky) Saturday, Dec. 29 – Weber State ­– 2:05 p.m. Monday, Dec. 31 – Idaho State ­– 1:05 p.m. all times Pacific
Radio:	Eastern games are on 700-AM ESPN & 105.3-FM in the Spokane/Cheney area. Larry Weir calls the play-by-play (Bob Castle at Stanford). Broadcasts begin a half-hour prior to tipoff
Internet Radio:	https://tunein.com/radio/Eastern-Washington-Eagles-Sports-Network-s273711/
Radio  Mobile Phone App:	Via tunein radio
TV:	Weber State televised regionally on SWX; None for Idaho State
­­­Webcast:	http://watchbigsky.com or Pluto Channel 234 for EWU home games
Live Stats:	EWU Home Games: http://ewustats.com
Weekly Coaches Show:	The next scheduled show hosted by Larry Weir and featuring head coach Shantay Legans is scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 8 at 6 p.m. (subject to change) and is aired live on 700-AM ESPN. The show will take place live at Barrelhouse Pub and Pizza in Cheney.

The season starts anew for the Eastern Washington University men's basketball team as it closes out the 2018 calendar year.
 
The Eagles open Big Sky Conference play next Saturday (Dec. 29) when Weber State visits for a 2:05 p.m. game at Reese Court in Cheney, Wash. The Eagles follow that with a 1:05 p.m. game on New Year's Eve (Dec. 31) versus Idaho State.
 
The Weber State game will be televised regionally on SWX. All of Eastern's games will be carried live via radio on 700-AM ESPN and 105.3-FM in the Spokane/Cheney area, with Larry Weir calling the play-by-play. Broadcasts begin a half-hour prior to tipoff.  Fans can also watch the webcast of all league games via PlutoTV and at http://watchbigsky.com.
 
Eastern hopes to start league play in full health after Mason Peatling made his season debut as a starter versus Corban in a 92-73 Eagle win on Dec. 21. That improved EWU's record to 2-9 for the season and snapped a six-game losing streak with the first five on the road.
 
Eastern was picked to finish fourth in the league in both the coaches and media polls, while Weber State was picked second behind defending regular season and tournament champion Montana. Idaho State was eighth in both polls. A year ago, Weber State and EWU tied for third in the league with 13-5 records, but it was Eastern which advanced to the Big Sky Tournament championship game where it lost to the Grizzlies. Idaho State finished 9-9 in the league last season, as EWU picked up a key late-season road sweep over the Wildcats and Bengals in the lone meetings against those two schools in the 2017-18 season.
 
"It's going to be a good game and a good test for us," said Eastern head coach Shantay Legans of his team's league opener versus a Weber State program which won Big Sky Conference tournament titles and advanced to the NCAA Tournament in 2016 and 2014. "In all of our preseason games we've played against some tough schools, and now we find out if it pays off. We use it to determine how to schedule in years to come. I think it's great, and I believe our players are confident. Our coaching staff did a good job of keeping them together, their heads focused and their confidence up. I couldn't be more proud of a team which lost nine games in the preseason, just because of the way they've practiced and prepared for Big Sky action."
 
Weber State will enter the game versus the Eagles with a 6-5 record, having closed out its preseason schedule with an 83-69 home win over Delaware State on Dec. 22. The Wildcats are 4-1 at home and 0-2 on the road this season, plus are 2-2 on neutral courts.
 
Junior guard Jerrick Harding paces Weber State with a 21.2 scoring average, with three other players averaging in double figures for a team that averages 81.5 points per game. Junior guard Cody Jahn is averaging 16.1 and 6-foot-9 senior Brekkott Chapman averages 11.3, and together that trio has made 52-of-135 3-point shots for 38.5 percent. Chapman also averages 7.5 rebounds and 2.1 blocks, and 6-9 senior Zach Braxton is averaging 10.2 points and 7.9 boards per game while sinking 63.5 percent of his shots from the floor.
 
So far this season, Idaho State is 4-5 overall, and will play at Idaho on Dec. 29 prior to coming to Cheney. The Bengals fell to UC Santa Barbara 84-65 on Dec. 22. They are 2-1 at home and 2-4 on the road thus far, and are led by the 15.6 scoring average of junior guard Brandon Boyd.
 
Eastern senior Jesse Hunt, with four double-doubles this season, leads Eastern with averages of 15.8 points, 7.8 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game. Sophomore Jacob Davison is averaging 10.4, including outings with a career-high 25 at North Dakota State on Dec. 8 and 20 versus South Dakota State on Dec. 18. Luka Vulikic has a 7.2 average, and has scored 54 points (10.8 average) in the last five games he's played after scoring 18 in his first five (3.6 average).
 
Sophomore Steven Beo made his Eagle debut versus San Francisco on Dec. 13 after sitting out last season as a transfer from BYU. The 2016 Richland (Wash.) High School graduate sank a 3-pointer late in the game to finish with three points and a rebound. He started versus South Dakota State, but played just six minutes, all in the first half, then sat out and rested versus Corban.
 
EWU is 2-2 at home at Reese Court, and is 48-8 overall there in the last four-plus seasons (86 percent). In the previous four seasons, EWU has gone 46-6 at Reese Court, including an 11-1 mark last season and 15-1 record in 2016-17.
 
Eastern returns seven total letterwinners from the 2017-18 team, including four starters. However, the Eagles lost the Big Sky and EWU all-time leading scorer in Bogdan Bliznyuk, who was the league MVP and an honorable All-America selection last year after finishing with 2,169 points in his career.
 
The Eagles closed the 2017-18 season with a 20-15 record in their 35th season as a member of NCAA Division I after finishing 13-5 in the league during their 31st season as a member of the Big Sky. Eastern made its fourth-straight national postseason appearance when the team competed in the 2018 College Basketball Invitational (CBI).
 
 
 

Game/Season Notes

 
 
With Big Assist Games as Well, Jesse Hunt Averaging 15.8 Points and 7.8 Rebounds With Four Double-Doubles
 
Senior Jesse Hunt has had had a trio of 20-point outings this season, with four double-doubles in his last nine games to give him six in his career. He is averaging 15.8 points, 7.8 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 0.6 blocked shots on the season.
 
He has had 14 assists in his last two games, including 14 points and six dishes for scores against Corban on Dec. 21. One game earlier, he finished with eight points and career highs of 12 points and eight assists while going against South Dakota State All-American Mike Daum on Dec. 18. In addition, Hunt scored 27 points in Eastern's recent outing versus Stanford, making 9-of-15 shots from the floor and finishing with four rebounds.
 
Hunt has been the catalyst for the Eagles on offense thus far through 11 games, with shooting percentages of 50.8 percent overall and 43.2 percent from 3-point range (19-of-44). However, the rest of the team is shooting at 35.3 percent, and just 28.7 percent from the arc.
 
Hunt had back-to-back double-doubles – including a 32-point outing in an EWU victory -- to earn All-Tournament honors at the Cheney Sub-Regional of the 2K Empire Classic Benefiting the Wounded Warrior Project. He then followed that performance by leading the Eagles with 15 points at Washington on Nov. 27, and had a double-double with 26 points and 10 rebounds at Seattle on Dec. 1.
 
He scored 15 of EWU's 22 points down the stretch en route to his second-straight double-double and give the Eagles an 87-80 victory over the University of Missouri Kansas City on Nov. 17 at Reese Court in Cheney, Wash. In finishing with 32 points, he doubled his previous career high of 16 and achieved a new career high with 12 rebounds. Hunt hit a 3-pointer to send the game into overtime and his efforts also included two other baskets in the final 2:02 of regulation to provide most of EWU's offense down the stretch. He then scored eight of EWU's 18 points in overtime. He sank 12-of-16 shots from the field with a trio of 3-pointers, and also had four assists.
 
"Jesse was there and knocked down the shot," said Eastern head coach Shantay Legans on his team getting to overtime. "Our guys spaced the floor and Jesse came up big. Jesse had a great game. For he and Ty (Gibson) to get 20 rebounds between them was huge."
 
One game earlier in a semifinal loss to Green Bay, Hunt finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds, plus had three assists and a pair of blocked shots. In the two games, he averaged 23.5 points, 11.0 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.0 blocked shots per game, while making 65.5 percent of his shots overall (19-of-29), 4-of-6 from the 3-point stripe and 5-of-9 free throws.
 
Hunt has played in 94 career games with 28 starts, and has averages of 5.0 points and 3.4 rebounds. He nearly had a double-double at Oregon on Nov. 9 when he finished with nine points and eight rebounds. He has now had 16 career double-figure scoring performances in his career to go along with seven performances with 10 or more rebounds.
 
 
 
Peatling is Back, And Looks to Get Back in Last Year's Form When He Finished With Five Double-Doubles
 
Late to arrive to the party for Eastern this season was Mason Peatling, who earned honorable mention All-Big Sky honors as a sophomore. He missed Eastern's first 10 games with an injury, then made his season debut and started for the Eagles against Corban on Dec. 21. He finished with four points on 2-of-6 shooting, seven rebounds and four assists.
 
He put together a stretch of three-straight double-doubles in January of 2018 after re-joining the starting lineup mid-way through the season. He had the fourth double-double of the season and of his career with 19 points and 13 rebounds in an 84-79 win over Montana State on Feb. 17, 2018, then had his fifth with 11 points and 10 boards in Eastern's regular season finale versus Northern Arizona. His point total against the Bobcats was his career high, and Eastern was 4-1 when he had a double-double.
 
He closed his sophomore campaign with five points, five rebounds, two assists, a blocked shot and a steal against Utah Valley in College Basketball Invitational. In three games in the Big Sky Conference Tournament, he scored 30 points and had 17 rebounds and four blocked shots. In a win over Northern Colorado on Jan. 27, 2018, he had 17 points and a career-high 15 rebounds, making 6-of-11 shots from the field and finishing with two blocked shots. Peatling had the first double-double of his career with 10 points and 10 rebounds in EWU's overtime loss at Southern Utah on Jan. 20, 2018, then had 11-11 versus North Dakota on Jan. 25, 2018.
 
Making his first start since Dec. 12 after missing four games because of a hand injury, Peatling embraced his return to the starting lineup on Jan. 6, 2018, against Sacramento State. It took barely over seven minutes for him to hit the double-figure mark, as he finished with 12 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the field in 13 minutes of action. Prior to being sidelined with his injury, he scored a career-high 19 at South Dakota on Dec. 10, 2017, and had 11 points and six rebounds one game earlier at San Francisco.
 
For the season, Peatling averaged 7.7 points in 31 games (26 as a starter), and averaged 5.6 rebounds (17th in the Big Sky) and 1.2 blocked shots per game (fifth). His averages were 8.7 points, 7.4 rebounds (seventh) and 1.5 blocks (fourth) in conference play.
 
In his 66-game career (44 as a starter), he's averaged 5.8 points and 4.3 rebounds with a total of 47 assists, 51 blocks and 40 steals. He hit double figures in scoring 11 times in 2017-18 and 15 in his career thus far, and has had at least 10 rebounds six times in his career, all during his sophomore season.
 
 
Five Eagles Made Eagle Debuts Versus Syracuse
 
Four Eagles, including starting redshirt freshman Kim Aiken Jr., made their collegiate debuts when Eastern played at Syracuse on Nov. 6. For Aiken, it was the first start of his career in his Eagle debut, finishing with five points.
 
Coming off the bench for EWU were redshirt freshman Tanner Groves and true freshmen Elijah Jackson and Austin Fadal. All three scored their first points and had their first rebounds of their careers as Eagles, as did junior college transfer Tyler Kidd. A redshirt last season after transferring from Skagit Valley Community College, Kidd made 3-of-8 shots from the field – including 3-of-5 3-pointers – to finish with a team-high nine points. He also had a pair of rebounds, an assist and a steal. Against Oregon one game later, Groves and Jackson both made their first 3-pointers as Eagles.
 
Besides Aiken, the rest of EWU's starting lineup against Syracuse included seniors Ty Gibson and Jesse Hunt, as well as sophomores Luka Vulikic and Jack Perry. Eastern played without three players – Mason Peatling, Jacob Davison and Steven Beo – plus Gibson played just eight minutes after suffering an injury in the first half. Gibson did not play versus Oregon and was replaced in the lineup by Cody Benzel, who finished with a team-high 16 points.
 
Aiken averaged 25.3 points and 11.5 rebounds as a high school senior in the 2016-17 season, and scored 1,730 points (18.4 per game) and had 1,038 rebounds (11.0) in his career. Groves earned All-State honors while at nearby Shadle Park High School in Spokane, Wash., and averaged 18.2 points, 9.5 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.8 blocked shots as a senior. Kidd earned all-defensive honors in the Northwest Athletic Conference and averaged 14.1 points as a sophomore at Skagit Valley Community College.
 
Jackson is out of Chief Sealth High School in Seattle, earning All-Metro League honors as a senior, then winning the long jump and triple jump at the 2018 State 3A Championships. He had high school bests of 23-6 in the long jump, 46-4 3/4 in the triple jump and 6-6 in the high jump. Those marks would have all placed in the top 12 at the Big Sky Conference Championships in 2018.
 
Fadal averaged over 18 points and six assists in his high school career, but a knee injury in December of his senior season ended his high school career. He then played one season at Hillcrest Prep in Arizona where he was one of the eight finalists nationwide for the National Prep Hoops Offensive Post-Graduate/Prep School Player of the Year.
 
 
Eastern Picked Fourth in Big Sky Preseason Polls
 
Montana is the consensus favorite, but the Grizzlies are just one of several league championship contenders Eastern will face in the 2018-19 season. The Eagles were picked to finish fourth behind defending champion Montana, Weber State and Northern Colorado in the Big Sky Conference preseason polls announced on Oct. 18 by the league office.
 
Eastern received 261 votes in the media poll to trail Northern Colorado by 19, and were 67 tallies ahead of Montana State. The coaches had Eastern seven points behind UNC and eight points ahead of No. 5 Portland State.
 
"The Big Sky will be good again – it's really talented from top to bottom," said second-year EWU coach Shantay Legans. "So it's going to be a fight for us."
 
Montana was a unanimous choice to repeat as champs, receiving 33 of 35 first-place votes in the media poll and all but one of the votes cast by the coaches. Picking up the other first-place votes and ranking second in both polls was perennial Big Sky power Weber State.
 
"Montana is the favorite because they have most of their players back," said Legans. "And Weber State is also bringing back some guys and has some good, young players coming in. Northern Colorado should be right at the top again, and Montana State has Tyler Hall so they'll be a challenge."
 
League play begins Dec. 29, but Big Sky foes won't be the other league favorites the Eagles will face. In their respective preseason polls in their leagues, Oregon (Pac-12) and South Dakota State (The Summit League) have been picked to win titles. Syracuse (Atlantic Coast Conference) under veteran head coach Jim Boeheim will be among the favorites after its run to the NCAA Tournament "Sweet 16" a year ago.
 
"With our schedule we'll be able to see how we stack up against teams picked to win their conference," said Legans, whose team will play seven of its 11 preseason games on the road. "That's how we like it."
 
One of EWU's home games will be against South Dakota State on Dec. 18, and the Jackrabbits feature one of the best players in NCAA Division I basketball in Mike Daum. The 6-foot-9 senior forward averaged 23.9 points and 10.3 rebounds a year ago."
 
 "They say he is one of the top 20 players in the country, and it will be a lot of fun to play them at home," Legans added. "They are maybe one of the top five mid-major programs in the country and are very talented."
 
Big Sky Conference Preseason Rankings
 
Media Poll (Rank – Team – Points): 1. Montana - 383 (33); 2. Weber State - 346 (2); 3. Northern Colorado – 280; 4. Eastern Washington – 261; 5. Montana State – 194; 6. Idaho – 192; 7. Portland State – 189; 8. Idaho State – 176; 9. Southern Utah – 128; 10. Sacramento State – 115; 11. Northern Arizona – 46. First place votes in parenthesis
 
Coaches Poll (Rank – Team – Points): 1. Montana - 100 (10); 2. Weber State - 90 (1); 3. Northern Colorado – 70; 4. Eastern Washington – 63; 5. Portland State – 55; t6. Montana State – 53; t6. Southern Utah – 53; 8. Idaho State – 50; 9. Idaho – 34; 10. Sacramento State – 27; 11. Northern Arizona – 10. First place votes in parenthesis
 
 
Preseason Schedule Included Teams from Seven Different Conferences
 
It has already been another year of challenges, as Eastern played a total of 11 non-conference games – four at home and seven on the road – prior to the start of Big Sky Conference play on Dec. 29.
 
Eastern opened the year by suffering a pair of season-opening losses to nationally-ranked opponents in the first of two preliminary games of the 2K Empire Classic. Eastern fell 66-34 to Syracuse on Nov. 6 before falling to Oregon 81-47 three nights later. The Ducks, the favorite to win the Pac-12 Conference title, were ranked 14th in the Associated Press preseason poll and 16th in the USA Today Coaches rankings. The Orange, which advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament a year ago, entered the EWU game ranked 16th and 14th, respectively.
 
In all, Eastern's non-conference schedule includes teams from seven different conferences – ACC, Pac-12, Horizon, Ohio Valley, Western Athletic, Summit and the West Coast. The 11 non-conference opponents EWU have played or will still play combined for a 194-149 overall record last season, and were 86-78 in their respective leagues.
 
Along with Syracuse, South Dakota State also advanced to the NCAA Tournament and finished 28-7 after winning the Summit League title with a 13-1 record. Washington, Stanford and Oregon all played in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT), winning first-round games before bowing out in the second round.
 
Seattle and San Francisco joined EWU in the 2018 CBI. Both Eastern and the Redhawks – coached by former Eagle head coach Jim Hayford – fell in the first round. But the Dons advanced all the way to the championship series versus North Texas where USF won 72-62 in the opener but lost 69-55 and 88-77 in the next two games.
 
In all, 10 of EWU's 21 NCAA Division opponents appeared in postseason NCAA Division I Tournaments. Montana represented the Big Sky in the NCAA Tournament, while Portland State and Northern Colorado both played in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament (CIT).
 
 
League Schedule Features 20 Games for the Third Time in League History
 
As expected, the 2018-19 schedule of games in the Big Sky Conference for the Eagles will have a few twists and turns. It includes 20 league games for the first time since the 2013-14 and 2012-13 seasons. Those were the only years in the league's 55-year history the schedule has included 20 conference games.
 
The departure of North Dakota left the league with 11 members, making for a challenge in scheduling 20 games for each team in a span of 11 weekends. Travel partners – such as Idaho paired with EWU – were retained as much as possible, but the "lone wolf" is always prevalent when scheduling an odd amount of teams.
 
Most notably, Eastern will play four games on Monday, including three at home at Reese Court in Cheney, Wash.  The Eagles will also host Montana and Montana State in back-to-back games, but those will come nine days apart.
 
However, the good news for the Eagles is that their road travel schedule is as good as could be expected. The lone Monday road game is at Northern Colorado -- four days after the Eagles play at nearby local rival Idaho.
 
"Scheduling 11 teams in a 20-game schedule is definitely a difficult task," said Eastern head coach Shantay Legans. "But we are pleased with how it came out for us. It's definitely different playing on Mondays, but we'll embrace the challenges and fight to win the league title."
 
The Big Sky Conference Championship, which will take place in Boise, Idaho, for the next three years, is scheduled for March 13-16, 2019 at CenturyLink Arena.
 
 
Brackets Set for Big Sky Tourney in Boise
 
The move from Reno to Boise has also resulted in a change in the brackets for the 2019 Big Sky Conference Men's and Women's Basketball Championships presented by My Place Hotels. Tickets and lodging for the event are available now at: http://BigSkyinBoise.com.
 
The tournaments are set to take place March 11-16 at CenturyLink Arena in Boise, Idaho. Eastern's women's team could start as early as Monday, March 11, while the men wouldn't begin play until Wednesday, March 13, at the earliest. The women's tournament will be held March 11-15, while the men's championship will take place March 13-16. The tournament champions will receive automatic berths to the NCAA Division I Basketball Championship.
 
For the fourth-straight season, all Big Sky members will compete in the conference tournament with the field featuring 11 teams for both the men and women in 2019. The top five teams in the final regular season standings will earn a bye to the quarterfinal round of the Big Sky Championship. The six-day event will be held in the state of Idaho for the first time since 1994 when former Big Sky member Boise State served as the championship host.
 
The three first round games of the Big Sky women's championship will start Monday afternoon before four quarterfinal matchups follow on Tuesday for the women. A five-game Wednesday slate features a trio of men's first round games, leading up to the women's semifinals in the evening. 
 
The men's tourney continues Thursday with the quarterfinals. Friday's action consists of the women's championship game, which will air on Eleven Sports, while the men's semifinals follow that night. The week-long event wraps up Saturday with the men's championship game on ESPNU at 5 p.m. Pacific time.
 
CenturyLink Arena is a 5,300-seat facility located in downtown Boise that has been the home of the Idaho Steelheads hockey team since opening in 1997. The arena hosts an average of 100 events annually and has welcomed over 5.5 million attendees in 20 years. It also hosts numerous concerts, trade shows, and conventions each year. CenturyLink Arena is attached to the Grove Hotel, Boise's only four-diamond hotel.
 
The 2019 championship will be the fourth neutral site basketball championship in the Big Sky's history after holding the event in Reno, Nevada, the previous three seasons.
 
To stay up-to-date with the Big Sky Conference, follow us on Facebook at /BigSkyConf or on Instagram and Twitter @BigSkyConf. Fans can also follow Big Sky men's and women's basketball on Twitter, @BigSkyMBB and @BigSkyWBB.

 
Basketball Coaches Continue Jan. 8
 
Basketball Coaches Shows began Tuesday, Nov. 13, and will take place at Barrelhouse Pub and Pizza in downtown Cheney throughout the 2018-19 season. Barrelhouse Pub and Pizza is located at 122 College Ave. in Cheney, and the public is always invited to attend the shows live.
 
The shows begin at 6 p.m. and will feature men's head coach Shantay Legans, with special guests including head women's coach Wendy Schuller. Players and assistant coaches from both the men's and women's programs will be featured on the shows, which will continue through March 11.
 
Hosted by veteran Eagle radio play-by-play announcer Larry Weir, the shows may be heard on 700-AM ESPN, 105.3-FM, tunein.com and via Tunein's mobile phone app (search for Eastern Washington). EWU football and men's basketball games may also be heard via those methods.
 
The next scheduled show is Tuesday, Jan. 8, before moving to Mondays on Jan. 14. The shows will take place each Monday thereafter, except for Feb. 4 and Feb. 18 because of games the Eagles play those nights.
 
 
 
 

Series Notes

 
* The Eagles have now won four of their last seven games against an opponent EWU was 19-45 against prior to that. Eastern is 24-48 all-time against Weber State, including a 6-30 road record, 16-17 mark at home and 3-3 record in the Big Sky Conference Tournament. The Eagles won the lone meeting versus the Wildcats in the 2017-18 season, winning 75-70 in Ogden to snap WSU's nine-game winning streak. The year before, Eastern was 1-2 versus Weber State, falling 70-67 in Ogden, Utah, on Jan. 14, 2017, and winning 82-72 on Feb. 23, 2017, in Cheney to move into a second-place tie with the Wildcats in the league standings. They met again in the Big Sky Conference Tournament semifinals and Wildcats won the rubber match 80-71.  Eastern has played the Wildcats in the Big Sky Tournament on six occasions, including a 3-1 record in semifinal matchups. Eastern won in the 1990 semis in Boise 83-67, won in the 2002 semis in Bozeman 62-57, lost in the 2003 championship game in Ogden 60-57, won in the 2004 semis in Cheney 72-53 and lost in the 2011 quarterfinals in Ogden 79-70.
* In last year's meeting, senior Bogdan Bliznyuk did his part with 27 points, including a pair of game-clinching free throws with five seconds left, as EWU picked up a key, 75-70 road win over Weber State Feb. 22, 2018, in Ogden, Utah. Jacob Davison had a big game with 17 points, and Mason Peatling added 15 for the Eagles, who are now 6-30 all-time in Ogden. Eastern made all eight of its free throw attempts in the last 1:57 to close out the win after a pair of 9-0 runs overcame an eight-point deficit. In a seven-minute stretch, EWU held Weber State to 1-of-12 shooting from the field. The win snapped a nine-game winning streak for the Wildcats, a week after snapping league-leading Montana's 13-game streak with a 74-65 win at Reese Court on Feb. 15. Eastern trailed by eight in the second half when Bliznyuk scored all nine points in a 9-0 run. After the Wildcats hit a 3-pointer to regain the lead, Eastern followed with another 9-0 run to lead 56-49 with 7:43 to play. A basket by Bliznyuk gave Eastern the lead for good at the 9:02 mark. Eastern out-shot the Wildcats 50.9 percent to 42.6 percent, and out-rebounded the Wildcats 33-29. Eastern sank 65 percent of its shots in the second half.
 
* Eastern is 46-29 all-time against ISU, including a 43-28 record since becoming a member of NCAA Division I in the 1983-84 season (15-19 on the road, 27-8 at home, 1-1 at neutral sites). The Eagles have won 14 of the last 16 meetings overall and 13 of the last 14 at Reese Court. Last season, Eastern triumphed in Pocatello 74-69 in the lone meeting between the two schools. Eastern had an overall eight-game winning streak snapped in the 2013-14 season when the Bengals prevailed 72-83 in Pocatello. Eastern won 65-57 at home in the 2014-15 season, extending EWU's home winning streak versus ISU to 13 games dating back to a 65-63 loss on March 1, 2003. Eastern also won later in the year in Pocatello by an 85-81 score, but then lost its home-court winning streak in the lone meeting in 2015-16 with a 75-71 loss at Reese Court.
* Last season versus the Bengals, senior Bogdan Bliznyuk went over the 2,000-point mark in his career and finished with a game-high 17, but three other Eagles scored in double figures as EWU beat Idaho State 74-69 on Feb. 24, 2018, in Pocatello, Idaho. Jack Perry made a career-high five 3-pointers and finished with 16 points, Jacob Davison scored 11 and Cody Benzel had 12 in the second half to help Eastern hold onto fourth place in the league standings. Eastern led by 13 at halftime and 15 early in the second half, but Idaho State came back to take a 69-68 lead with 2:01 left. But a 3-pointer by Bliznyuk with 1:31 gave EWU the lead for good, and a trio of free throws down the stretch by Davison and Perry helped EWU secure it first road sweep in two years. Idaho State made 16 3-pointers two days earlier in an 86-83 win over Idaho, but EWU held the Bengals to 2-of-7 shooting from the 3-point arc in opening a 13-point lead at halftime. The Bengals sank 8-of-12 in the second half, but the Eagles still finished with 11 treys compared to 10 for ISU. For the fourth-straight game, Eastern won the rebounding battle, allowing ISU to finish with just one offensive rebounds while winning the overall battle 32-26. The Eagles had just six turnovers against Idaho State, enabling the Eagles to have a 62-48 advantage in field goal attempts.
 
 
 

More Player Notes

 
Sharpshooting Duo Climbs EWU Three-Point Charts
 
Seniors Cody Benzel and Ty Gibson have both played in more than 100 games for the Eagles, with current totals of 112 and 107 games of experience, respectively.
 
Benzel has started 32 games in his career, averaging 14.1 minutes and 5.2 points (6.6 as a junior and 8.1 thus far as a senior) per game. He is coming off the third performance in his career of 20 points or more, finishing with 23 in a 92-73 over Corban on Dec. 21. He sank 7-of-13 3-pointers to equal his career high, and came just two points from his best scoring output as an Eagle of 25 points. He also had a pair of steals.
 
Gibson has started 46 career games and has a 4.5 scoring average (6.3 as a junior and 4.3 this season) in an average of 17.7 minutes per game. After playing sparingly in EWU's first two games because of an injury, he scored 12 versus Green Bay and 16 against UMKC on back-to-back notes at home in December. He scored eight points in his next game, but has had only seven points in the six games since heading into conference play.
 
Both players are three-point threats with Benzel ranking sixth in school history with 171 3-pointers, shooting at a 40.6 percent clip to rank 12th all-time at EWU. Gibson has made 127 3-pointers and is just out of the top 16 in school history with 38.5 percent accuracy. Sophomore Jack Perry is currently 13th on the percentage list at 39.9 percent.
 
Add in BYU transfer Steven Beo, and the Eagles will have four proven top-notch shooters in the league. Beo played in 31 games as a freshman for BYU in 2016-17 after averaging 27.7 points as a junior and 26.7 as a senior at Richland (Wash.) High School. He made his Eagle debut at San Francisco on Dec. 13 and made 1-of-2 3-point attempts, and then started his first game as an Eagle on Dec. 18 versus South Dakota State. He did not play versus Corban on Dec. 21.
 
Benzel and Gibson, as well as forward Jesse Hunt, were named to the NABC Honors Court for the 2017-18 school year. Gibson is majoring in professional accounting, and has a 3.99 GPA at EWU after graduating from Issaquah (Wash.) HS in 2015. Benzel is a 2014 graduate of Ferris High School in Spokane, Wash., and has a 3.19 GPA as a marketing major. Hunt has a 3.57 GPA as a management major, and is formerly from Australia and graduated from Sir Francis Drake HS in California in 2015. Gibson and Hunt have also all earned Big Sky All-Academic.
 
Eastern had a 3.54 grade point average as a team in fall quarter of 2018, with a current accumulative team GPA of 3.61.
 
 
Vulikic Back After Injury-Shortened 2017-18 Season
 
Sophomore Luka Vulikic started Eastern's first eight games at point guard in the 2017-18 season before a foot ailment resulted in him redshirting. He's back as a starter in the 2018-19 season and after 10 games has led the Eagles with an average of 3.0 assists per game while chipping in averages of 7.2 points and 4.3 rebounds. He has scored 54 points (10.8 average) in his last four games after scoring 18 in his first five (3.6 average). He did not play versus Corban on Dec. 21.
 
He scored a career-high 18 points against Seattle on Dec. 1, sinking 7-of-12 shots from the floor and 4-of-6 free throws. His previous career high was 12 set twice, including Nov. 22, 2016, versus Seattle when he also had 11 rebounds. He had a career-high 10 assists at North Dakota State on Dec. 8. In his 50-game career (40 as a starter), Vulikic is averaging 4.5 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.6 assists.
 
In the eight games he played in 2017-18, he averaged 7.1 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.6 assists in an average of 25.6 minutes per game. That came after a freshman season in which he started 22 of 32 games and averaged 2.9 points, 2.8 rebounds and 0.7 assists.
 
A bout of planter fasciitis plagued the Serbian, and it was announced in February of 2018 that Vulikic would redshirt as an injury hardship. He scored in double figures three times in the eight games he played, scoring 10 points each versus Walla Walla (11/10/17) in the team's opener, at Washington (11/12/17) and then Utah (11/24/17). He had a career-high seven assists versus the Utes in a game he also had five rebounds.
 
 
Pair of Sophomores Contribute Significantly as Freshmen Last Season
 
Sophomore Jacob Davison missed EWU's first two games in 2018-19 because of an injury, but returned to play versus Green Bay and UMKC on Nov. 16 and Nov. 17, respectively. He had an 11-point performance in his season debut, then scored eight points and had two assists in the next game. He scored a career-high 25 points versus North Dakota State on Dec. 8, sinking 11-of-19 shots from the floor with a trio of 3-pointers. He had 20, with four 3-pointers, five rebounds and three assists, against South Dakota State on Dec. 18. Through nine games thus far he is averaging 10.4 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.4 assists. In his 43-game career (13 as a starter), he's averaged 7.8 points, 2.7 rebounds and 0.7 assists.
 
Davison played significantly as a redshirt freshman a year ago. He made the first start of his career at Seattle on Dec. 3 and started seven-straight games. He came off the bench in the last 21 and averaged 7.1 points on the season. His debut season ended with seven points, a career-high four steals and three rebounds in EWU's loss to Utah Valley in the College Basketball Invitational. He scored 41 points and had 14 rebounds in three Big Sky Tournament games, including 16 in both the semifinals and championship game. He scored in double figures seven times in his last 13 games, including 14 points in EWU's regular season finale versus Northern Arizona and 17 at Weber State on Feb. 22. He scored 15 at Utah on Nov. 24, 2017, when he had his third double-figure scoring performance in a four-game span. He came off the bench to score 20 against Georgia State on Nov 20, 2017, and had 11 one game earlier versus UNLV.
 
Sophomore Jack Perry started EWU's last 27 games as a true freshman in 2017-18, and scored in double figures in four of his last nine games. So far in 2018-19 he has started eight of 10 games and has averaged 6.0 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game. His 40.3 percent accuracy from 3-point range in his career currently ranks 12th on EWU's career leaders list. He's played 45 total games as an Eagle (35 as a starter) and has averaged 6.6 points, 2.2 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game.
 
He had a career-high 18-point performance against Northern Arizona on March 3, 2018, in which he made a career-high six 3-pointers in nine attempts, then followed that with 14 points in EWU's quarterfinal win in the Big Sky Tournament. He also had a 15-point performance against Idaho State on Feb. 24, 2018, with five 3-pointers, and a career-high eight rebounds at Weber State one game earlier on Feb. 22. On the season he averaged 6.8 points and 2.4 assists per game while making 45.1 percent from the field and 56-of-130 3-pointers (43.1 percent to rank sixth in the Big Sky). His clutch 3-pointer with 15 seconds left helped clinch EWU's 81-74 win over Portland State on Jan. 4, 2018, then he hit another clutch trey with 1:06 left in EWU's 81-76 victory against Northern Arizona on Jan. 18, 2018.
 
 
Eagles Add Trio as Letter of Intent Signees
 
Eastern signed in November a trio of players – including the brother of a current member of the team – to letters of intent to attend EWU and play basketball for the Eagles next year. The players signed include 6-7 guard/forward Jacob Groves, whose brother Tanner Groves is a redshirt freshman for the Eagles. Jacob is currently a senior at Shadle Park High School in nearby Spokane, Wash., and Tanner graduated from the school in 2017. The other players signed are 6-6 guard/forward Tyler Robertson from Melbourne, Australia, a member of his country's Australian national youth teams, and Abdullahi Mohamed, a 6-foot-8 power forward from West Seattle High School.
 
Groves averaged over 16 points and seven rebounds per game as a junior at Shadle Park, making 60 percent from the field overall and 47 percent from the 3-point stripe. He scored a season-high 26 points and hit six 3-pointers in a 53-51 win over Kellogg (Idaho) High School.
 
 "Jacob has continued to improve his long-range shooting stroke, and he is growing into his 6-7 frame," said Legans. "He's a home-grown student-athlete, and it will be very exciting to see Tanner and Jacob play side-by-side for the Eagles over the next few years."
 
A 3.8 student in high school, he has volunteered at the Washington Family Ranch and participated in highway clean-ups. He intends on majoring in education at EWU and has an interest in becoming a physical education teacher. His parents are Randy and Tara Groves, and he also has another brother named Dylynn.
 
 "He's also had great success in the classroom and community," added Legans. "He has had a terrific career at Shadle Park and has made great strides while showing tremendous growth as a player. He has a very unique combination of size and skill, and has a great shooting touch that gives him the ability to become a prolific 3-point threat in the Big Sky. His skill level on the court, combined with his IQ and toughness, is going to make him a major contributor."
 
 "Having Jake join his brother Tanner here at EWU next year is going to be a great fit, both on the floor and in the locker room," Legans said. "We've had some amazing shooters from Spokane lately with Parker Kelly and Cody Benzel, and Jake fits that mold perfectly. He is one of the best shooters in the state and with his size, that should translate very well to the college level."
 
Robertson played on his country's FIBA U18 team last summer, and has been part of the State and National high performance programs since 2014. He helped Australia national teams win championships at the 2017 U17 Oceania Championship and the 2018 U18 Asia Cup, while helping Australia qualify for the World Championships in 2019. Robertson also played on a team representing the state of Victoria for four years, helping the team win a silver in 2015 (as vice-captain) and gold in 2016, 2017 (as captain) and 2018. He'll be with the team as well in February of 2019.
 
"Tyler is going to be a tremendous addition to our family," said Legans. "He is joining a long line of Aussies from Melbourne in our program and will make his mark as an exceptional playmaker and shooter. His size, skill, and versatility is going to make him a matchup nightmare in our league."
 
Robertson has played 12 years of club basketball starting when he was 6-years-old. He played five years for the Dandenong Rangers, the same club several other Eagles have played on in the past, including current Eagle Jack Perry. In 2016, 2017 and 2018 he played in the Victorian Youth Championship League for Dandenong, serving as team co-captain in 2018. He played in the South East Australian Basketball League (SEABL) in 2017 & 2018 for Dandenong under the coaching of Darren Perry.
 
His school team has won the Champions Cup the past four years as the top team in the state of Victoria. He played for Rowville Secondary in 2015 and with Box Hill Senior Secondary in 2016, 2017 & 2018. The 2017 Box Hill team won the Australian School Championship.
 
Mohamed averaged over 15 points and nine rebounds per game as a junior at West Seattle, and was also a factor on the defensive side of the ball. He was born and raised in West Seattle, and will graduate in 2019.
 
 "We are excited to welcome Abdul to the program," said Legans. "Some of the best players in EWU history have come from West Seattle and we're excited to have a one of Abdul's caliber come play here. Abdul has big goals both on and off the basketball court and will fit right in with our culture."
 
"Abdullahi has an extremely high basketball IQ, which is why he is going to fit in perfectly with our family here at Eastern Washington," said Legans, who has begun his second year at the helm of the Eagles program. "His skill level on the court, combined with his intelligence and toughness, is going to make him a major contributor in the years to come. Abdullahi has also set his goals high in academics."
 
He enjoys volunteering with neighborhood children, and has a 3.0 grade point average. He tutors his classmates and teammates in math and science, and hopes to major in engineering at EWU.
 
"Abdullahi excels on and off the court, and has consistently done well in the classroom," added Legans. "He is known as a leader on the court, but his ability to lead off the court and set an example in the classroom has been most impressive. Abdullahi has very lofty goals for his future and has said how he wants to rebuild East Africa and bring stability to that country by providing youth with tools to further develop its economy."
 
His parents are Bashir Mohamed and Burhan Farah, and he has three brothers (Abdirahim, Ahmed and Yusuf), and a sister (Fatuma), who he closely mentors in basketball as well. His father has been in Somalia for the past 2 1/2 years taking care of his elderly mother. Abdullahi's mother works three different jobs to provide for her family, and also makes a huge impact on the African community in Seattle public schools.
 
 
 
 

More Team Notes

 
 
Eastern Honored For Fifth-Straight Year by the NABC for Academics
 
For the fifth consecutive year, the Eastern Washington University men's basketball team has been honored with the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Team Academic Excellence Award announced July 11, 2018. The award was won by 184 colleges and universities for having a team cumulative grade point average of 3.0 and above for the 2017-18 season. Teams in NCAA Division I, II, II and NAIA Division I and II were eligible.
 
Eastern, Gonzaga and Seattle were the only NCAA Division I schools in the state of Washington to be honored, and were joined by Seattle Pacific from NCAA Division II. Eastern, Idaho State and Sacramento State were the only Big Sky Conference schools to be recognized.
 
"We have and always will make academics a priority within our program," said second-year head coach Shantay Legans, who also spent eight seasons as an Eagle assistant coach. "Our players continue to take care of business in the classroom and on the court, and are setting the bar high for our next group of newcomers."
 
Players on EWU's 2017-18 team included Academic All-America nominee, Big Sky MVP and four-time league All-Academic selection Bogdan Bliznyuk. Others on the team who won Big Sky All-Academic accolades were Cody Benzel, Ty Gibson, Benas Griciunas, Jesse Hunt, Mason Peatling and Jack Perry. Other members of the squad included Sir Washington, Jesse Hunt, Jacob Davison, Richard Polanco, Grant Gibb and Joshua Thomas, with Luka Vulikic, Steven Beo, Kim Aiken Jr., Tanner Groves, Brendan Howard and Tyler Kidd redshirting.
 
 
Big Sky-Best Six Eagles on 2017-18 NABC Honors Court
 
Six Eastern Washington University men's basketball players – the most in the Big Sky Conference – have been honored on the 2017-18 National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Honors Court announced on July 17, 2018.
 
Graduated forward Bogdan Bliznyuk is a repeat winner, and joined fellow senior Benas Griciunas on the squad. The remainder were underclassmen -- Cody Benzel, Ty Gibson, Jesse Hunt and Grant Gibb.
 
"We are very proud of those players," said Eagle head coach Shantay Legans. "To lead the league in the number of selections receiving this honor is a tribute to the hard work our players put into being true student-athletes, and the emphasis our program, athletic department and university put towards academics."
 
The six selections were the most EWU has had a single season, bettering the four the Eagles had in the 2014-15 school year. Of the 22 selections in school history, 20 of them have come in the six seasons starting in 2012-13. Besides Bliznyuk, repeat winners have included Venky Jois, Tyler Harvey, Daniel Hill and Julian Harrell.
 
The Honors Court recognizes those men's collegiate basketball student-athletes who excelled in academics during the past season. The NABC Honors Court recognizes the talents and gifts that these men possess off the court and the hard work they exhibit in the classroom.  To qualify, the recipients must have junior or senior standing academically, and have a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.2 or higher at the conclusion of the 2017-18 academic year. They must have also matriculated at least one year at their current institution.
 
NABC Honors Court Recipients: 2017-18 - Cody Benzel, Bogdan Bliznyuk, Grant Gibb, Ty Gibson, Benas Griciunas, Jesse Hunt; 2016-17 - Bogdan Bliznyuk, Julian Harrell, Mario Soto; 2015-16 - Julian Harrell, Venky Jois; 2014-15 - Tyler Harvey, Daniel Hill, Venky Jois, Fred Jorg; 2013-14 - Tyler Harvey, Daniel Hill, Martin Seiferth; 2012-13 - Jordan Hickert, Kevin Winford; 2008-09 - Andy Genao, Benny Valentine.
 
 
Legans Has Most Coaching Wins for a Rookie in 75 Years
 
First-year head coach Shantay Legans is the 18th coach in Eastern history, and has made history of his own. His 20 wins in his first season at the helm were the most by a first-year Eastern coach in EWU's NCAA Division I era, besting Ray Giacoletti with 17 in the 2000-01 season. Joe Folda also won 17 games in 1982-83 as an interim head coach during Eastern's rise from NAIA to NCAA Division I. Thus, you have to go back to the 1942-43 season when Bob Brumblay won 27 games in his debut season to find a rookie Eastern coach with more than 18 victories, which is also the only time it's happened.
 
Legans was an Eastern assistant for eight years before becoming EWU's 10th coach at the NCAA Division I level. Legans spent six years on the staff of Jim Hayford (now head coach at Seattle), and two previous seasons under former head coach Kirk Earlywine (now an assistant at Idaho). Legans was associate head coach under Hayford for the final three of those eight seasons.
 
He has been a part of Eastern teams from the 2013-14 through 2017-18 seasons which have win totals of 15, 26, 18, 22 and 20 games. The three 20-victory seasons are among the top four win totals in EWU's 35-year history in NCAA Division I. The combined 101 wins in five seasons, 86 victories in four seasons, 66 in three and 44 in two are also the most since EWU became a member of NCAA Division I in the 1983-84 season. The same can be said of EWU's stretch of league victories -- 10, 14, 10, 13, 13 -- in that five-year span.
 
A former player at Cal and Fresno State, he was married on May 10, 2014, to former Eastern women's basketball player Tatjana Sparavalo. Their daughter, Zola Lee, was born June 16, 2016, and their son, Maksim (Mak) Lee, was born March 23, 2018.
 
 
Perry, Benzel and Peatling Join Bliznyuk in Top 10 in League Statistics
 
Bogdan Bliznyuk made 52.8 percent of his field goals (12th in the Big Sky, 70th in NCAA Division I) and 90.2 percent of his free throws (second in the Big Sky, 11th nationally) to average 21.2 points (third, 25th nationally) through 35 games. He also averaged 6.8 rebounds (sixth) and 3.9 assists (second) to rank as the only player in the league to be in the top 15 in scoring, rebounding and assists – he was actually in the top six in all three. In league games only, Bliznyuk averaged 22.2 points, 7.6 rebounds and 4.8 assists, and broke the NCAA Division I single season record for consecutive free throws by making 77-straight from Dec. 31 to March 8. Bliznyuk finished as the owner of 16 school records, and led the Eagles to national postseason tournaments in each of his four seasons.
 
With a late-season surge as a true freshman, Jack Perry finished ranked sixth in the Big Sky in 3-point shooting overall at 43.1 percent (56-of-130). Cody Benzel was 12th overall at 41.6 percent (67-of-161), including 50-of-112 (44.6 percent) in league games only to rank fifth. Benzel, whose career percentage of 41.9 percent is 10th-best in school history, also ranked fourth in league games only with an average of 2.8 treys per game. Benzel averaged 2.0 3-pointers per game to rank 11th overall in the league. Ty Gibson, one of the team's co-captains, averaged 1.7 3-pointers per game to rank 14th in the league.
 
Mason Peatling was fifth overall with an average of 1.2 blocked shots per game, and he averaged 1.5 in conference play to rank fourth. His average of 7.4 rebounds per game in league games was seventh and his average of 5.6 overall was 16th.
 
As a team, Eastern finished fourth in the league and 69th in NCAA Division I in 3-pointers per game (8.9), and was fourth in the Big Sky in percentage (.374). The Eagles also led the league and ranked 46th in the nation with just 11.5 turnovers committed per game.
 
In league games only, Eastern averaged 9.4 treys per game to lead the Big Sky, highlighted by a regular season-ending season-high of 16 3-pointers against Northern Arizona on March 3, coming just four from the school record of 20. Benzel and Gibson each had a pair, but Perry had a career-high six (6-of-9) on his was to career-high 18-point scoring night. Redshirt freshman Jacob Davison sank 4-of-6 and finished with 14 points.
 
Benzel finished with the 11th-most 3-point field goals in school history with 67 in the 2017-18 season. Gibson finished 16th with 61 and Perry was 19th with 56.
 
 
 

More Comments from Head Coach Shantay Legans . . .

 
 
On Corban Win: "A win is a big win for us. We played a lot of players tonight and not a lot of minutes – we wanted to get some guys some rest. We wanted to see what Mason looked like on the inside and outside. We wanted to get some of our players going – Jacob, Austin and Tyler all scored in double digits, Jesse played well and Cody came in and had one of his 3-point barrages. We made 13 threes at about a 40 percent clip which is good for us."
 
On Having Peatling Back: "Mason played only 18 minutes (against Corban), but he had four offensive rebounds and four assists – he's an unbelievable passer and screener. We play a little more efficiently with him in the lineup. He does a lot of talking back there on defense and is our anchor. We are only going to get better with Mason out there."
 
On Final Non-Conference Game: "Heading into Big Sky play, we want to be peaking and playing our best basketball during this stretch. We have a lot of weapons we can use. I really like the guards we have, and getting Mason back helps us out on the perimeter. Jesse can now get on the outside more than he has – he can drive against bigger guys and he's been shooting the ball pretty well out there. It's going to be hard for teams to guard him, especially with Mason inside."
 
On Luka Vulikic Sitting Out: "We still can't get our full team on the floor together. Luka was held out for precautionary reasons, but if this was a league game he would have probably played."
 
On Shooting: "When we start league and play teams are the same size of us, I think our percentages will increase. Last year we were at 50/40/90 during the season from the field, three and free throws, and I think we'll get back there. We have very skilled and talented players, especially when they have the ball in their hands. They move it around a lot – we had 20 assists tonight with only four turnovers. That's a big step forward for this team."
 
On Benzel: "He's a great shooter, and when the ball is moving around and he gets open looks, he's going to make a lot. We've struggled hitting some shots early in the season, but we talk in the locker room that it's going to happen because our players work so hard. When you have players who are confident in their shots and their game, they are going to make a lot of shots. Cody is a very confident player, and he could be 1-of-10 and he'll shoot 10 more threes if he's open. He's never going to waver from shooting threes."
 
On Non-Conference Season: "We learned a lot about ourselves – there is a lot of fight in this team. I didn't see any of our guys hanging their heads. After the game it obviously hurts to lose, but the next day they bounced back and practiced hard. We have a very resilient group and a team that will fight for each other. They want to win and are trying to figure out how to get that message across with each other. But at the same time, they need to be positive and have constructive criticism. They are all in, and I have a good feeling heading into Big Sky Conference play. I think we know which guys we can call on in certain situations. A lot of players saw action in the preseason, and now we expect players to be ready to go when their number is called. They've accepted their roles pretty well – they have a lot of grit and come to fight every day. You obviously want more wins in the preseason, but I couldn't be more proud. We are getting better each game and we have a confident group. Every game they've played they've learned and we've had a chance to win. We are learning valuable lessons – not just the players but the coaching staff too."
 
On Stanford Loss: "We came out and played hard against a Pac-12 foe who is really good. We played inspired basketball and this is what we look forward to -- ball movement, making some shots and playing great defense. We are getting there and there is a lot of progress being made. They are starting to get all the way back to their rhythm and flow. It's sometimes hard on the road, but I don't want it to be easy for these guys. We'd like it to show in the win column, but they are a proud basketball team. They are talking about what they need to do tomorrow to get ready for our game on Tuesday. Having players like that really builds you up as a coach."
 
On Team Versus Stanford: "They followed the game plan – some shots didn't fall in the second half but they played tough and they played hard. We were right there and had the lead for a long time in this game. We let it slip away at the very end and the score doesn't indicate it. But we were right there, and that's all you can ask for in a game like this on a Saturday after a Thursday game. We made some open shots, and Jesse and Luka made great decisions to get shots for other players. When you do that and put teams on their heels and start making some free throws, it really puts them in a bind. Their big guys are good, but they can't guard our team on the perimeter. In the second half they got us on the glass, and we have to do a better job fighting on the glass. That's part of the game and you have to fight through it. I think our guys did, but some of the shots came up short."
 
On Jacob Davison: "Jacob is one of the better guards in the Big Sky. He's exceptional and can do a lot of things offensively because he's very skilled. He had a really bad wrist injury to start the season and injured his ankle, but he's starting to get back to full health."
 
On Playing Challenging In-State Opponents: "Players like it and they want to play against the best. When you come to Eastern you are going to get a chance to do that. Our preseason really speaks for itself – we play everybody we possibly can from within this state and it's a lot of fun. The players love it and gain a lot of experience. We have a lot of players from the state of Washington, so it's exciting to play games in front of their friends and families. It's awesome and we'll try to do it every single year."
 
On Losing First Two to Ranked Teams: "We got taught a lesson by two really good teams. We are going to take these back and get better and get smarter. We'll use this experience to move forward and be the best team we can be. We're trying to make that happen by Big Sky play. It's going to be fun to watch Oregon and Syracuse as the season goes along and to say we played them. Hopefully we get the opportunity again -- these are two NCAA Tournament teams."
 
On Opportunities: "We're playing against great teams and in great venues. I talk to our team about the opportunity they are being given at such a young age. We have freshmen out here playing that we thought might redshirt at some point. We want to make sure they are ready to go, but sometimes these freshmen need time to get better. At the same time, I like the fight we've had – we play hard. Some of the guys are playing different positions, some aren't even playing the positions they've played all year long. There are no excuses -- you have to come out here and play the game and put for the effort to try and win these games."
 
On His First Year as Head Coach: "It was a tremendous first year for me and I couldn't be happier. I want to thank everybody for believing in this team and being part of something special. I'm sorry we couldn't win the tournament and get to the dance, but we'll be back. We want everybody to support these players because they deserve it – they work their tails off on the court and in the classroom. Supporting them is huge to our team and means a lot. I'm excited about our future and our athletic department."
                     
On 20 Victories: "It's a big thing for our program to get to 20 wins. The guys deserve it and they did everything we asked them to do all season long. To be able to play for a championship is what you are trying to do when the season starts. Was cool and exciting about the whole postseason situation is that the Big Sky had six teams with 20 wins, and that's the most in 55 years. Being able to play against so many tournament-caliber teams got us prepared for the run we went on. We were 20 minutes from representing the Big Sky in the big dance."
 
On Peatling's Honorable Mention Accolade: "Mason had a monster conference season. He's a big reason we won 13 league games, and our win against Northern Colorado was a key in helping us finish third. He kicked everybody's butt on the boards that day -- he tried to outrebound them by himself."
 
 
 

Recent Game Recaps

 
Big Run in First Half Propels Eagles to 92-73 Win
 
Having Mason Peatling back in the lineup couldn't have come at a better time for the Eagles. Closing out its preseason non-league schedule, five Eagles scored in double figures as Eastern continued its four-game homestand with a 92-73 victory over Corban University on Dec. 21 at Reese Court in Cheney, Wash.  Cody Benzel (23), Jesse Hunt (14), Tyler Kidd (14), Austin Fadal (13) and Jacob Davison (11) all scored in double figures in the victory in which no Eagle played more than 26 minutes. Eastern won for the first time since Nov. 17 and had season highs for points and assists (20), and sank 13-of-32 3-point shots for a best this season of 40.6 percent. Peatling made his season debut and started for the Eagles, and finished with four points on 2-of-6 shooting, seven rebounds and four assists. He was an honorable mention All-Big Sky Conference selection last year as a sophomore. Eastern fell behind early by scores of 8-2 and 11-7, but then went on a 21-2 run that was fueled by five points by Kidd and eight by Fadal. Two free throws by Hunt gave EWU a 28-13 with 7:01 left, and EWU led 46-38 at halftime with Benzel pouring in 11 points with a trio of 3-pointers. Eastern led by as many as 20 points in the second half and no fewer than 10 in the second half. Eastern was on pace for its first 50-percent shooting night of the season, but finished at 47.1 percent with 13 3-pointers in 32 attempts (40.6 percent). Overall it was EWU's second-best shooting night of the season (48.2 percent versus Green Bay) and best from the 3-point arc (37.5 percent/9-of-24 versus UMKC). Eastern also had season highs for points, assists (20), steals (16) and turnovers forced (21).
 
 
Eagles Can't Get Over the Hump and Fall to Jackrabbits 74-64
 
Eastern pulled within a single point on 10 different occasions, but South Dakota State led from start to finish for a 74-64 victory as EWU started a four-game homestand on Dec. 18 with an agonizing loss at Reese Court in Cheney, Wash.  Sophomore Jacob Davison led the Eagles with 20 points, including four 3-pointers as the Eagles equaled a season high with 13. Sophomore Jack Perry also had four treys, and finished with a season-high 14 points. Eastern leading scorer and rebounder Jesse Hunt added eight points, 12 rebounds and a career-high eight assists going against 6-foot-9 NBA prospect Mike Daum. Daum finished with 27 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Jackrabbits, who were held to 42.6 percent shooting and 12 points below their season average of 86.4 points per game. Eastern missed its first four shots of the game and fell into a quick 9-0 hole. The Eagles battled back to cut the lead to one on four occasions, but could never take the lead and trailed 36-32 at halftime. It was much of the same in the second half as EWU pulled within one six different times. But a 5-0 run gave the Jackrabbits some breathing room with a nine-point lead with 5:22 to play, and the closest EWU could come the rest of the way was five. North Dakota State has advanced to the NCAA Tournament the last three years and five of the last seven. Eastern continued its shooting struggles, making just 38.9 percent of its shots overall. The Eagles sank 13-of-38 3-point attempts for 34.2 percent.
 
 
Eastern Roars to Early Lead But Falls to Stanford 78-62
 
Eastern made its first six shots to jump out to a 14-4 lead, but Stanford rallied and pulled away in the closing minutes for a 78-62 victory over the Eagles on Dec. 15 at Maples Pavilion. The Eagles led by as many as 12 in the first half, and was on top 32-27 at halftime thanks to 48 percent shooting from the field. But the Cardinal (5-4) got hot in the second half, making 19 of 28 shots for 68 percent. Stanford took the lead for good with 14:50 left in the game, then runs of 6-0 and 5-0 helped open a double-digit lead with inside of 4 1/2 minutes to play. Senior Jesse Hunt scored the second-most points in his career with 27, with sophomore Luka Vulikic finishing with 11. Cody Benzel hit a pair of 3-pointers to keep EWU within striking distance in the second half, but EWU as a team was just 6-of-20 (33 percent) from the arc in the game and 3-of-13 (23 percent) in the second half. Eastern had five different players score during an early 6-of-6 shooting stretch to help EWU take the 14-4 lead. The Eagles took their largest lead at the night at 17-5 with 11:25 remaining in the half. But the Eagles cooled off to make just six of their next 21 to allow Stanford back in the game. Eastern finished at 21-of-52 for 40.4 percent. Stanford, which made just one of its first 10 shots, sank 27 of its last 39 (69 percent) to finish at 57 percent for the game (28-of-49).