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Eastern Washington University Basketball

Eastern Washington men top Stanford 67-61 to end Pac-12 drought

Eastern Washington
Eastern Washington's Bogdan Bliznyuk (32) drives the ball against Stanford's Michael Humphrey, left, Robert Cartwright (2) and Reid Travis (22) during Tuesday’s game. Bliznyuk led the Eagles with 23 points in their 67-61 victory. (Ben Margot / Associated Press)
By Jeff Faraudo Associated Press

STANFORD, Calif. – Eastern Washington was winless against teams from the Pac-12 Conference for nearly 15 years.

First-year Eagles coach Shantay Legans never had beaten Stanford at Maples Pavilion.

Both droughts ended Tuesday night as Eastern Washington climbed out of an early hole and led most of the way to claim a 67-61 nonconference men’s basketball victory over the Cardinal.

Bogdan Bliznyuk, a senior guard from Ukraine, scored 23 points to lead the Eagles (2-1), who made 11 of 25 shots from the 3-point arc.

The Eagles snapped a 21-game losing streak against Pac-12 schools, dating to a 62-58 win over Washington on Dec. 14, 2002. Legans spent three seasons as a player at Stanford’s rival Cal but never got a victory on the Cardinal’s floor.

“We believed we could win this game,” Legans said. “We have veteran guys. It’s a big win for our program because it’s against a Pac-12 team. It’s been a long time.”

Eastern Washington was down 9-2 early but never trailed over the game’s final 29 minutes, despite missing six free throws down the stretch.

Bliznyuk, who scored 45 points in a game last season, converted four foul shots in the final 11 seconds to ice the win.

“He’s a big-time player,” Stanford coach Jerod Haase said. “I thought our length would bother him, but he was able to get in there and do pretty much what he wanted.”

Legans called Bliznyuk one of the better players in the country, adding, “People don’t see him because he’s at a small school.”

Reid Travis scored 20 points to lead the Cardinal (2-1), who started three freshmen and shot 34 percent from the field, including 2 for 16 on 3-pointers.

“We’re not where we need to be,” Haase said. “There’s tremendous room for growth. We have such a long way to go and we’re not covering that gap as quickly as we can.”

Freshman forward Oscar Da Silva had 11 points and 17 rebounds in his first start.

Stanford played without three injured players, starting guard Dorian Pickens and reserves Marcus Sheffield and Kodye Pugh.

This was the second of 10 straight games away from home for the Eagles, who debuted with a home victory over NAIA foe Walla Walla but won’t play again in Cheney until Dec. 17 against Cal State Northridge.

Asked how the Eagles prepared to stop Cardinal star forward Travis, Legans said, “We prayed last night as a team. Just kidding. We had bodies around him at all times. We didn’t let him go one-on-one.”

Eastern Washington plays Friday at UNLV.