Sports Briefs

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Eastern nearly pulls off upset at Wyoming

Eastern Washington nearly had the other bookend to their epic Nov. 14 Stanford win.

The Eagles’ men’s basketball team ended its 10-game road stretch with an impressive showing, but Wyoming rallied from a six-point deficit with 33 seconds left in regulation to prevail 93-88 in overtime Dec. 12. Eastern led for 35:14 in the game, compared to just 6:52 for the Cowboys.

“Everything they had in the tank they emptied today,” Eastern head coach Shantay Legans said. “It’s tough to lose this game, but we are going to get better and we just have to be smarter at the end of games.”

Eastern nearly beat a Mountain West Conference foe for the first time since 2002, opening leads of 9-0 and 16-5 in the early going and leading by as many as 13 in the first half. Wyoming rallied though, and the second half and overtime featured five ties and seven lead changes before the Cowboys outscored EWU 22-11 in the final six minutes of the regulation and overtime.

Senior Bogdan Bliznyuk led the Eagles with 30 points — his ninth career game with at least 30 — and his free throw with 33 seconds left gave EWU a 75-69 lead in regulation. He missed a 3-pointer with five seconds left that could have sent the game into a second overtime.

The Eagles will host CSUN (Cal State Northridge) on Sunday, Dec. 17 at 1 p.m, and the University of Providence from Great Falls, Mont., on Wednesday, Dec. 20, before starting league play on the road on Dec. 29.

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WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Eagle women top Cal Poly at Reese, hit road to Indiana

A game that saw 24 lead changes and 16 ties ended in favor of the Eastern Washington University women’s basketball team on Monday, Dec. 11. The Eagles claimed their second-straight victory over Cal Poly by a score of 75-72.

EWU had four players in double-figures for the first time this season. Delaney Hodgins led the way with 18, followed closely by Uriah Howard and Violet Kapri Morrow with 17 apiece. Sophomore Symone Starks rounded out the scoring with 10 after hitting three 3-point field goals.

“This was good for us, we really needed to get over the hump,” head coach Wendy Schuller said. “We have been working on and emphasizing our offense for a while, so it was really nice to finally see the team and our offensive capabilities that I’ve thought we’ve had all year and we finally saw it happen today.”

As a team, the Eagles shot a season-best 57.8 percent and shot over 50 percent in all four quarters on 26 for 45 shooting. They also hit a season-high nine 3-pointers and went 14-for-19 from the line.

Thirteen of Hodgins’ 18 points came in the second half, as she tied the game for the Eagles early in the fourth quarter, and then gave EWU the lead following a 3-point field goal.

Howard was the hero of the fourth quarter. With the Eagles down 70-72, she would hit a 3 to tie the game with 2 minutes, 1 second remaining. After an EWU timeout, Hodgins received the ball and dished it to Howard who was sent to the line and sunk both free throws, giving Eastern a 75-72 advantage with less than a minute remaining.

Eastern now heads to Indiana for the Traveler’s Invitational on Dec. 17-20. The Eagles open up against hosts Purdue on Dec. 17 and Saint Mary’s on Dec. 18. EWU closes out the invitational against Tennessee-Martin on Dec. 20. Big Sky Conference play begins on Dec. 28 against Northern Colorado at Reese Court.

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FOOTBALL

Hunter moves to B.C. Lions

The Edmonton Eskimos announced that scout and former Eastern Washington University assistant coach Torey Hunter has accepted the position of director of player personnel and player development with the B.C. Lions.

A graduate of Washington State and a draft selection of the Houston Oilers, Hunter played defensive back with both the Eskimos and Montreal Alouettes before moving into the college coaching ranks in 2002. He also served on coaching staffs at Western Washington, Idaho State, Central Washington and Idaho.

Hunter joined the Eskimos in 2014.

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