The EWU men’s basketball team competed in their final set of non-conference games and also began conference play on Jan. 1.

During the holiday season, the Eagles competed on the road for most of their games.

Eastern defeated Seattle University, 87-75, on Dec. 6.

Junior forward Venky Jois had another 38 point performance to go with his seven rebounds and three blocks. Senior guard Drew Brandon finished with 11 assists and 12 rebounds. Junior guard Tyler Harvey had 18 points, while Ognjen Miljkovic helped out with 14 points.

The Eagles outscored Seattle University, 44-25, in the first half for a 19 point lead at halftime. In the second half, Eastern scored 43 points to get the victory.

Head coach Jim Hayford told goeags.com how important this road victory was. “It was a great win,” said Hayford. “I told the team that a lot of crazy stuff can happen on the road and we didn’t let it happen.”

On Dec. 11, EWU earned their fifth straight victory with a road win at the University of San Francisco, 81-76.

Harvey hit the 1,000 point mark in his collegiate career and finished with 19 points for the game. Miljkovic had 20 points and Jois chipped in with 15 points and 11 rebounds.

EWU’s win streak ended on Dec. 14 where the Eagles fell to the University of Washington, 81-77. Televised on the Pac-12 Networks, Eastern led for almost 35 minutes until the Huskies came storming back in the end of the second half with a 7-0 run.

Harvey scored 21 points and grabbed five rebounds. Miljkovic had 14 points. Jois finished with 13 points, eight rebounds, three steals and two blocks. Brandon had 16 points, nine rebounds and three assists.

“In those last four minutes, [the University of Washington] made two big time threes,” Hayford told goeags.com. “We came up empty on a couple of possessions. That was the difference.”

Eastern lost their second straight game on Dec. 16 at Sam Houston State University, 76-52. The Bearkats outscored EWU 42-31 in the first half and 34-21 in the second half.

In their last non-conference road game, the Eagles fell to the University of California, 78-67, on Dec. 19. The Golden Bears outshot Eastern 57 percent to 42.6 percent for the game.

“We learned a lot from our road trip and it made us a better team,” said Harvey. “We had the opportunity to learn from our mistakes and that helped better us for Big Sky play.”

EWU ended their losing streak with a win at home against Lewis-Clark State College, 87-81.

With that victory, Eastern finished with a 9-4 record against non-conference opponents this season. Eastern outscored Lewis-Clark State 43-30 in the first half, and had 19 assists and 42 points in the paint.

Jois joined Harvey by reaching the 1,000 point mark, he had 13 points and seven rebounds for the game. Freshman forward Bogdan Bliznyuk had a season high of 13 points.

“Our mindset stays the same, one game at a time,” said Harvey. “We know what we are capable of doing night in and night out. But it’s on us to do it.”

The Eagles began conference play on Jan. 1 where they faced Weber State University at home. Thanks to a career high of 39 points by Harvey, Eastern defeated the Wildcats, 84-78.

Other top performers included Jois, who had 18 points, eight rebounds and five blocks. Brandon finished with seven points, six assists and eight rebounds.

Eastern played their second conference game on Jan. 3 against Idaho State University. The Eagles were defeated the Bengals, 65-57.

Eastern received big production from their bench, 30 points. Freshman forward Bogdan Bliznyuk scored a career high of 17 points. Jois and harvey both finished with 16 points, Jois had eight rebounds in the game.

The Eagles play on the road against the University of Idaho on Jan. 10.