Jois poised for record: Senior Venky Jois is just eight points away from the EWU career scoring record. Now with 1,733 points as an Eagle, the school record of 1,741 was set 39 years ago by Ron Cox (1974-77). The point total for Jois is currently 13th in Big Sky history, 77 from moving into the No. 12 position (1,810).
With the Big Sky Conference regular season title not in the cards, a couple of major goals remain for the Eastern Washington University men’s basketball team as they close out both the regular season, and play their final two home games this week.
The Eagles are chasing an undefeated record at Reese Court, and grappling with a host of others to remain one of the top-four teams when the season ends.
Eastern Washington hosts Idaho State and Weber State at Reese. The game versus the Bengals takes place tonight (March 3) at 6:05 p.m. with both teams currently in a four-way tie for third in the Big Sky Conference standings at 10-6.
Conference-leading Weber State arrives in Cheney Saturday for a 2:05 p.m. game as seniors Venky Jois, Austin McBroom and Kyle Reid will be honored in Senior Day. Jois enters the week needing only eight points to tie and nine to break the school’s career scoring record of 1,741.
“We’re in a great spot and we haven’t lost at home all season,” EWU head coach Jim Hayford said after his team lost 66-62 last Saturday to Idaho and fell into the tie for third with the Vandals, North Dakota and Idaho State.
The top four finishers in the regular season receive first-round byes, a big plus. The other eight teams will play on the first day of the tournament and need to win four games in five days to win the league title and the NCAA berth that goes with it.
Although Eastern has lost its last two games — both on the road — Hayford said his team is in a good place heading home where his Eagles are 10-0 and have out-scored opponents by an average score of 96-72.
“Our team has worked hard to defend our home court, and are undefeated at home,” Hayford said.
These are the only meetings this season for Eastern against both ISU and WSU. The Eagles are now 16-12 overall, while Idaho State is 15-13. The Wildcats are 14-2 in the league and 22-7 overall, and are coming off a 60-54 home win over Montana to take over first in the standings.
Weber State, which plays at Idaho tonight (March 3) before coming to Cheney, has played the last two games without Joel Bolomboy who injured his knee. Bolomboy, a key scorer and rebounder for the Wildcats is likely not expected to play, letting him heal for the more important job ahead at Reno.
In their loss last Saturday at Memorial Gym, Idaho used a 10-2 run to overcome a four-point Eagle lead, then hit four free throws in the final 1 minute, 27 seconds to secure their first conference victory over Eastern since the Vandals returned to the Big Sky last season.
Eastern led 34-30 at the half but were outscored 36-28 in the final 20 minutes. The Eagles struggled from 3-point range, making 9-of-29, just 31 percent.
Jois made 7-of-10 shots for 16 points. McBroom scored 11. Sophomore Bogdan Bliznyuk had 12 points while juniors Felix Von Hofe and Julian Harrell each had 10.
Paul Delaney can be reached at pdelaney@cheneyfreepress.com.
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