Eastern played at Wyoming March 15 in CBI; win and they may host March 20 at Reese
Like cuts of steak, or kinds of wine, some are better than others. Many might agree, any of each tastes good.
So it might be, too, when it comes to the postseason in basketball. While the Eastern Washington men don’t get to chomp into hoop’s version of Filet Mignon — the NCAA Tournament — they do get to savor the taste of playing past the Big Sky regular season for a third consecutive year.
That game took place last night (Wednesday, March 15) when the Eagles faced off in Laramie, Wyo. against the University of Wyoming Cowboys in the opening round of the College Basketball Invitational.
“We are excited to continue our season with our program’s third-straight postseason appearance,” EWU head coach Jim Hayford said.
Eastern entered Wednesday’s game with a 22-11 overall record after going 1-1 in the recently-concluded Big Sky Conference Tournament. The Cowboys are 18-14 overall after finishing 8-10 in the Mountain West Conference. In 2003, Eastern fell to Wyoming 78-71 in the first round of the National Invitational Tournament.
The winner of the Eagle-Cowboys game will play again on Monday, March 20, versus the winner of the Green Bay at Missouri-Kansas City game.
That contest could be played in Cheney, and should the Eastern women defeat Texas State on March 16 in San Marcos, Texas, in the Women’s Basketball Invitational, a doubleheader is possible in Cheney on Monday, March 20.
Following their runner-up finish in the Big Sky’s regular season, the Eagles were bounced from the conference tournament March 10 by Weber State, 80-72.
The Eagles scored an 89-70 opening-round victory in the BSC tourney over Sacramento State as Jacob Wiley scored 18 of his game-high 24 points in the second half. Wiley, the conference’s Player of the Year, added 10 rebounds for a double-double. Bogdan Bliznyuk added 18 points, while Sir Washington had 11.
Bliznyuk had 32 points in the semifinal loss to Weber, while Wiley had 24 against the Wildcats who lost in overtime to regular-season champ, North Dakota, 93-89 in Reno in the championship game. But that was largely the bulk of the Eagles’ offense with no other players in double-figures.
“You have to put the ball in the basket — that’s the game of basketball,” Hayford said. “We just didn’t get enough support around Jake and Bogdan.”
A year ago, Eastern won an opening-round CBI contest at Reese Court, 79-72 over Pepperdine of the West Coast Conference on March 16 before falling 85-70 at the University of Nevada on March 21.
Besides the 2016 and 2017 CBI, Eastern has participated in the NCAA Tournament in 2004 and 2015. In 2004, the Eagles lost 75-56 to Oklahoma State in the NCAA Tournament in Kansas City, Mo. In 2015, after winning the Big Sky Conference Tournament title in Missoula, Eastern fell to 22nd-ranked Georgetown 84-74 in Portland, Ore.
EWU Women
Eastern’s women are also in the postseason. See page 3 for details on how a college basketball doubleheader could come to Reese Court.
Paul Delaney can be reached at pdelaney@cheneyfreepress.com.
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