CHENEY, Wash. -- Venky Jois hit 10 of 12 shots and scored 21 points and Bogdan Bliznyuk had the first triple-double in school history as Eastern Washington rolled to a 96-73 victory over Northern Arizona on Saturday in Big Sky Conference men's basketball.
Bliznyuk had 11 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists for the Eagles (9-8, 3-2 Big Sky), who outrebounded the Lumberjacks 43-21 to win their third in a row. Austin McBroom hit five 3-pointers for 19 points and Sir Washington hit all five of his shots, including three 3s, for 13 as Eastern Washington shot 59 percent.
Ako Kaluna had 18 points for Northern Arizona (3-13, 1-4), which made 9 of 18 treys but shot just 44 percent overall.
The Lumberjacks had a four-point lead near the midway point of the first half when the Eagles scored 12 straight, six by Washington, that made it 30-22.
"Eastern Washington is a really good ball club that shoots the ball pretty well," said NAU head coach Jack Murphy."In the first half, I thought we stuck to the game plan. Rebounding is what cost us the game, and that's unlike us. That's not going to win you many basketball games."
Kris Yanku got off to a slow start for NAU but finished with 14 points, six rebounds, and five assists for his 15th double-digit scoring game of the season. Torry Johnson scored 12 of his 14 points in the second half on 6-of-8 shooting, and Marcus DeBerry tallied 10 points and eight assists.
