Jois powers Eagles again in win over Seattle University

Venky Jois turned in his second consecutive 38-point night last Saturday, Dec. 6 leading Eastern Washington to an 87-75 nonleague basketball victory over Seattle University at Key Arena.

Eastern, which remains on the road for the next four games, is now 7-1 for the first time since 1977 when EWU began a 25-4 NAIA campaign with a 15-1 mark. The Eagles next game is at San Francisco tonight, Thursday, Dec. 11 and at the University of Washington Dec. 14, a game televised on the Pac-12 Network.

Jois, a junior, scored 15 points in the first half, then 23 after intermission. He hit 13 of 18 field goals and was 12 of 15 free throw shooting. Jois added seven rebounds and three blocked shots to increase his school-record career blocked shots total to 137.

“We played really well and they didn’t have an answer for Venky inside,” EWU head coach Jim Hayford said. “It was a great team win and I was really pleased.”

After trailing 7-0 to start the game, Eastern outscored Seattle 44-18 the rest of the half. Eastern held the Redhawks to 4 of 19 shooting the rest of the half.

Three other Eagles tallied in double-figures. Junior Tyler Harvey pitched in with 18 points, including 3 of 10 from the 3-point stripe. Ognjen “OG” Miljkovic, a sophomore, added 14 points while senior point guard Drew Brandon had a double-double with 11 assists and 12 rebounds and five points.

For the second-straight game, Eastern was impressive from the free throw line making 21 of 27 versus the Redhawks (3-5) for 78 percent. Versus Eastern Oregon the Eagles connected on 26 of 29 or 90 percent.

The Eagles entered the game as the 18th-ranked mid-major team in the poll released by CollegeInsider.com. In addition, Jois was the mid-major player of the week as selected by College Sports Madness. He was also that organization’s Big Sky Conference Player of the Week — in part to his career-high 38-point outing versus Eastern Oregon on Nov. 30.

Eastern shot 50 percent from the field — 29 of 58 — and held Seattle University to just 40.6. Isiah Umipig had 24 points for the Redhawks.

Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected].