It is coming down to the last few games of the season as the Eagles try to make a push in the standings to finish with one of four first-round byes in the Big Sky Conference Tournament.

Going into the weekend with a four-game winning streak, EWU faced the University of North Dakota and the University of Northern Colorado, coming away 2-0. The Eagles are now 15-10 overall and 9-4 in conference play.

On Feb. 11, EWU took on UND in a battle for the lone third place spot in the standings. The Eagles started out the game just as hot as they were the past four games, making shot after shot.

At one point in the first half the team went on a 14-0 run to put EWU up, 23-14, with 9:15 left in the game. EWU shot at a 55 percent mark from the field and a 50 percent mark from the 3-point line while holding UND to 46 percent and 40 percent, respectively.

Senior guard Austin McBroom had a monster first half, shooting 7-11 from the field and 5-6 from the arc. He had already reached the 20-point mark in the first half to lead the team to 44-34 going into the final half of the game.

The second half was a different story as the Eagles shot only 48 percent from the line and 18 percent from the arc as a team. Fortunately, senior forward Venky Jois put up 18 points in the final 20 minutes of the game to carry the team the rest of the way to a 95-85 victory.

McBroom finished the game with a career high 35 points to go along with five assists and four rebounds.

Jois ended the night with 24 points, sinking a perfect 9-of-9 from the field. The school record is 10-of-10 made by Chris White on Feb. 1, 2001, against Montana State. Jois was just one rebound shy of his 35th career double-double.
Sophomore forward Bogdan Bliznyuk scored 5 points and collected nine boards.

EWU went head-to-head with UNC on Feb. 13 and came out with a 19-2 lead to start the game. After a dominant first half, the Eagles went into halftime leading, 51-31.

They shot at a 49 percent mark from the field and 46 percent from the 3-point line, while holding UNC to 33 percent from the field and 44 percent from the arc.

McBroom had already made four of seven 3-point shots to have 17 points at the half.

The second half of the game was much closer, but EWU already established a commanding lead to keep UNC at bay. The Eagles shot at a 67 percent mark from the field in the second half and 40 percent from the arc.

McBroom added three more 3-pointers to his day and carried the team to a 97-80 victory. He finished the game with 37 points, setting his career high yet again. McBroom scored a total of 72 points in the past two games.

Jois had his 35th career double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. He made all but one of his 15 field goals over the two-game homestand.

Bliznyuk finished with 18 points and eight rebounds while junior forward Felix Von Hofe scored 9 points.

With the pair of wins, the Eagles remain in third place in the Big Sky Conference and extend their winning streak to six games.

“What a great win and for Austin to have 72 points in two games,” said head coach Jim Hayford. “Both games were similar — we opened up a big lead and the other team wouldn’t let the game end. We kept pushing and had two double-digit wins over teams that defeated us earlier. I think it shows we are improving a lot.”

EWU hits the road to play their final three road games of the season, starting with Sacramento State on Feb. 18 at 7:05 p.m.