Eagles play first-ever games in State of North Carolina

If Indiana is the holy grail of hoops, North Carolina can't be far behind.

A year after playing and winning at college basketball legend Indiana, the Eastern Washington University men's basketball team will make its first-ever trip to play twice in another mecca of basketball - the state of North Carolina - in the Gotham Classic presented by the Gazelle Group.

Eastern will play three games in six nights on its East Coast swing that started Wednesday (Dec. 9) when Eastern met Davidson at Davidson, N.C. Two nights later the Eagles play at Pittsburgh on Friday (Dec. 11), then return to Cullowhee, N.C., to face Western Carolina, Monday (Dec. 14).

"This three-game road trip we are embarking on is our toughest road trip of non-conference play," Eastern head coach Jim Hayford said. "It's also in a stretch where we play six of seven away from home. So our team has no alternative but to develop toughness and cohesiveness to grow through this difficult stretch."

The Eagles entered Wednesday's game 5-3 starting an all-freshman lineup in a 104-64 victory over Great Falls on Dec. 6. Redshirt freshman Cody Benzel scored a career-high 23 points to lead seven Eagles in double figures.

Sophomore Sir Washington made 6-of-8 shots from the field and finished with 15 points. Junior Felix Von Hofe also finished with 15 with a trio of 3-pointers.

Sophomore Bogdan Bliznyuk added 13 points while three other Eagles, Bear Henderson, Will Ferris and Kyle Reid each scored 10 points.

Earlier the Eagles completed a successful road trip in which EWU won two of three games in a four-day stretch in Northern California. Eastern held off San Francisco 81-77 on Dec. 1, beating the Dons on the road for the second-straight season.