Bliznyuk chosen as Big Sky Conference MVP

The numbers seemed indisputable and when everything was added up – becoming Eastern Washington University's all-time leading scorer, the NCAA Division I record-holder for consecutive free throws made, let alone being the Eagles statistical leader in virtually every category – how could the Big Sky Conference's Most Valuable Player be anyone but Bogdan Bliznyuk?

The Eastern Washington University men's basketball senior was honored March 5 as the league's MVP as well as one of three unanimous first-team all-conference selections in the voting by the Big Sky's head coaches. In addition, Eagle sophomore Mason Peatling earned honorable mention All-BSC accolades.

Bliznyuk is the second-straight Eastern player to win the honor, with Jacob Wiley earning it a year ago after a record-breaking senior season. Previously, Rodney Stuckey won in 2006 and Alvin Snow was the initial Eagle honored in 2004.

"I think we have the best player in the league, and with a player like that you have a chance to win," first-year Eagle head coach Shantay Legans said. "He's the best player in the league hands down. He does everything for us – scoring, rebounds and assists. He just does so much."

This season, Bliznyuk made 51.3 percent of his field goals and 91.4 percent of his free throws to average 20.4 points through 31 games. He is also averaging 6.9 rebounds and 4.1 assists to rank as the only player in the league to be in the top 10 in scoring, rebounding and assists.

In league games only, Bliznyuk averaged 22.2 points. Bliznyuk broke the NCAA Division I single season record for consecutive free throws by making 74-straight during conference play.

"He's a quiet leader who leads by example, and he's just mentally tough," Legans said of the native of Lutsk, Ukraine, who graduated in 2014 from Todd Beamer High School in Federal Way, Wash.

"He thinks the game, so he's like a coach out there. I don't think anything ever fazes him. I've only seen him rattled a couple of times in his career, and that had to do with us not executing as a team and not because he was missing shots or something else individually. Everything about him is even-keeled, and it's been fun to coach him."

Peatling, a sophomore from Melbourne, Australia, has had five double-doubles in the conference season and has averaged 7.6 points in 27 games and 5.7 rebounds. He averages 8.7 points and 7.4 rebounds in conference play.

"Mason had a monster conference season," Legans said. "He's a big reason we won 13 league games, and our win against Northern Colorado was a key in helping us finish third."

Bliznyuk now has 2,060 career points in 134 career games, ranking him third in league history as just the fifth player in the 55-year history of the conference to hit the 2,000-point mark. He is now 18 points away from Weber State's Jeremy Senglin with 2,078 from 2013-17 and 42 from the record of 2,102 set by Orlando Lightfoot from Idaho in three seasons from 1991-94.