Benzel's 7 3s, 25 points lift E Wash over Sac St 82-67

Jan 7, 2018, 05:39 am

CHENEY, Wash. -- Cody Benzel scored a career-high 25 points on 7-of-10 shooting from 3-point range and Eastern Washington defeated Sacramento State 82-67 on Saturday.

Benas Griciunas added 16 points and Jack Perry had 14 for the Eagles (8-9, 3-1 Big Sky Conference), who had five players in double figures. However, leading scorer Bogdan Bliznyuk, who averages 19.5 points a game and 26.7 in the league, was limited to just two points on 1-of-5 shooting. That was enough to move him past Ron Cox into second in EWU career scoring with 1,742 points.

Justin Strings and Jeff Wu had 14 points apiece for the Hornets (4-12, 1-2).

The game was decided away from the basket, with the Eagles making 10 of 25 3-pointers and the Hornets 3 of 18.

A 3-point play by Griciunas put Eastern ahead for good at 8:49 of the first half and started a 9-0 run. The Eagles led 39-27 at the half and Benzel owned the second half with 18 points on 6-of-7 shooting behind the arc. The lead stayed in double figures throughout the second half, reaching a high of 21.