Bliznyuk carries Eagles past Bryant
It’s no cliché: Bogdan Bliznyuk is doing it all these days for Eastern Washington.
“Whatever helps the team win,” shrugged Bliznyuk, who scored a career-high 32 points to carry the Eagles to an 81-77 win over Bryant on Monday night at Reese Court.
On top of that, Bliznyuk was 11-for-15 from the field, hit all eight of his free-throw attempts and pulled down seven rebounds while playing all but two minutes of the game.
“We’re doing some things to run the offense through him – he’s kind of a point-forward,” Eastern coach Jim Hayford said after the Eagles improved to 2-2.
The game was part of a two-day subregional of the Legends Classic. It continues Tuesday as the Eagles play Seattle, an 81-75 winner over Louisiana Monroe in the 6 p.m. nightcap. Bryant and Louisiana Monroe will play at 3:35 p.m.
The Eagles (2-2) limped into Monday’s game. They were coming off an 85-52 loss at Texas as well as the loss of senior wing Julian Harrell, whose college career ended with a shoulder injury suffered last weekend.
“It was an emotional hit to our team this weekend the find out that Julian’s season is over,” Hayford said. “It was hard on the guys.”
Bliznyuk eased the burden with his third straight 20-plus scoring night, but defense and some dead-eye free-throw shooting carried the Eagles to the win.
Eastern led by eight with under three minutes to play, but the lead shrank to 73-70 with 48 seconds left before Jacob Wiley hit two free throws. Seattle had a chance to cut the margin to one with 20 seconds left, but the Bulldogs’ Nisre Zouzoua missed a layup and Bliznyuk secured the rebound and was fouled.
Bliznyuk made both shots, then two more with four seconds to secure the win.
Remarkably, the Eagles won despite going seven minutes, 20 seconds in without a field goal midway through the second half. The Bulldogs (1-3) couldn’t take advantage, as Eastern paraded to the foul line and made 30 of 34 free-throw attempts – including their last 18 in a row.
If Monday’s game is any indication, the Eagles won’t be the three-point shooting machine of years past. Against Bryant, they put up a grand total of 19 three-point shots. They made seven.
On the other hand, they held Bryant to 7-for-21 from beyond the arc and outrebounded the Bulldogs 36-25.
“If we’re going to be any good this year, we’re going to have to make some really good improvements defensively and rebounding,” Hayford said. “We were plus 11 on the boards tonight, and that may not have happened the last two years when we had to keep scoring to keep leads. Our defense kept us in it tonight.”
The Eagles got off to a slow start, missing seven of their first 11 shots and trailing the Bulldogs 17-10.
That’s when Hayford called time. The Eagles, led by Bliznyuk, responded with a 10-0 run to take the lead – for good, as it turned out.
By halftime, Bliznyuk had 21 points – his third 20-plus outing in as many games – and the Eagles were up 44-35.
Seattle 81, Louisiana Monroe 75: Aaron Menzies, a 7-foot-3 center from Manchester, England, scored 35 points to lead the Redhawks to an overtime win over the Warhawks in the early game at Reese Court.
Menzies was 12-for-15 from the field and topped his previous career high of 21 almost a year ago against Northwest Indian College. He also went 11 for 14 from the foul line.