Eastern men race past Utah Valley

For those who missed the breakfast pastries last week, the Eastern Washington men’s basketball team served up something more substantial Monday night at Reese Court: A little food for thought. After a 75-50 win over Utah Valley – the Eagles’ second in as many games over programs that reached the postseason last year – the 1,155 fans at Reese Court had to wonder: How good are these guys? The Eagles were more than good enough Monday night against Utah Valley, leading from wire to wire against a team that last season earned the Western Athletic Conference regular-season title and a spot in the NIT. Eastern did it with crisp passing that led to open looks outside, which in turn opened up the inside. More important to coach Jim Hayford, they did it with defense, holding the Wolverines to 35 percent shooting while blocking nine shots and winning the rebounding battle by eight. “What I am hanging my hat on is that we spent a whole offseason saying we have to be a better defensive team, and I thought we put together two really good back-to-back defensive games,” said Hayford, whose team is 2-0 going into Wednesday night’s home game against Walla Walla. The Eagles also found the range all night, shooting 30 of 55 from the field and going 11 of 26 from 3-point range. Eastern hit six of its first 10 shots to take an early 15-2 lead before Utah Valley hit its first 3-pointer. Twenty seconds later, Ogjnen Miljkovic answered with a trey; at that point, he had 11 of the 18 points. That also opened up things underneath, as guard Tyler Harvey threw a pretty bounce pass that forward Venky Jois turned into a monster dunk. “We didn’t really call any plays for us (inside),” Jois said. “But every team is going to respect our outside game, and obviously OG’s outside game as well.” It got better. Utah Valley narrowed the deficit to 31-23 with 4:25 left in the half, but Harvey and freshman Bogdan Bliznyuk combined to boost the lead to 38-25 by halftime. On one occasion, Bliznyuk drove the lane and found his path blocked – so he about-faced and fired a pass to Harvey, who drilled another 3. Harvey hit another 3 and Bliznyuk added a layin to give the Eagles a comfortable 38-25 lead at intermission. Utah Valley (1-1) hit its first three shots of the second half, including a pair of 3-pointers from Zach Nelson, who finished with a team-high 12 points. But the Eagles countered with five layins and a trio of free throws from guard Parker Kelly, who was fouled while shooting a 3-pointer. That gave Eastern a 51-34 advantage with 13:45 left. Four minutes later it was 60-34, thanks to treys from Harvey and Kelly, plus a Kyle Reid layin. By the time it was over, the Eagles had four players in double figures, including Harvey with 18, Miljkovic with 16, Jois with 12 and point guard Drew Brandon with 10. Hayford called the game “much more complete” than the Eagles’ first-in-the-nation, 86-62 win Friday morning over Texas Southern, an NCAA tournament team last year. “We want to shoot 50 percent from the field and we want to shoot 40 percent from the 3-point line – we did both of those things,” Hayford said. “A lot of times that just requires really good judgment and deferring for a good look. We were patient waiting for a great look, and I thought our guys did a really good job with that tonight,” Hayford said.