EAGLE MEN’S BASKETBALL 2020-21 Former Eagles in the Professional Ranks
As of 8/1/20, below is a list of former Eagles in professional basketball, including 18 active within the last year. ***Indicates is currently active within the last year in the professional ranks. Most recent team is listed first. Updates may always be accessed via: https://basketball.usbasket.com/team/Eastern-Washington-University/1056?Page=4 Name (Years Lettered at EWU) – Post-College Career (Country-League)
Mason Peatling
Jesse Hunt
Bogdan Bliznyuk
Sir Washington
Benas Griciunas
Richard Polanco
***Mason Peatling (2017-18-19-20) – Melbourne United (Australia-NBL) • Peatling won the Big Sky Conference MVP award in the 2019-20 season after averaging a double-double in 20 league outings with averages of 18.5 points and 10.4 rebounds per game. He was also a first team All-District 6 selection by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC). He was a first team All-Big Sky selection in 2019-20, and earned second team honors in 2018-19 when he also was picked for the Big Sky’s All-Tournament team. He was honorable mention All-Big Sky as a sophomore in 2017-18.. In addition, he also was a first team Academic All-America selection and EWU’s recipient of the Big Sky-Scholar-Athlete Award after receiving both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business administration with a 3.97 grade point average. • Peatling was on fire during the league season as a senior, closing with averages of 18.5 points on 56 percent shooting from the field, 10.4 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 1.7 blocked shots and 0.8 steals. He had 11 double-doubles in his last 15 games. Peatling was honored three times during the year as Big Sky Conference Player of the Week • He helped lead the Eagles to the outright Big Sky Conference title and their second-highest win total in 37 years as a NCAA Division I member with 23 victories. The school’s 16 league triumphs were the most in their 33 years as a member of the Big Sky Conference. He finished his career with 118 games played, 1,250 points, 725 rebounds, 112 blocked shots and a .555 field goal shooting percentage – all marks which rank in the top 12 in EWU history. ***Jesse Hunt (2016-17-18-19) – Keravnos Strovolou (Cyprus-OPAP Basket League); Geraldton (Australia-State League); Manisa (Turkey-TBL) • Through two games in 2020 for Geraldton, Hunt was averaging 12.0 points, 8.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.5 steals per game. In 20 games for Manisa in Turkey in 2019-20, he averaged 8.4 points, 7.1 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 0.9 steals. • As a senior at EWU, Hunt earned second team All-Big Sky honors as selected by the league’s head coaches in 2019, and was also selected as one of five Big Sky players on the all-league first team chosen by HoopsHD.com. He was chosen to participate in the 2019 Dos Equis 3X3U National Championship at Minnesota’s Mall of America. • His 496 points were the 19th-most in school history as he helped lead EWU to 13 wins in its last 19 games and a second-straight appearance in the championship game of the Big Sky Tournament. He averaged 14.6 points, 8.7 rebounds and 3.3 assists on the season to lead the Big Sky in rebounding and rank 10th in scoring and eighth in assists. • In addition, his 531 career rebounds ranks ninth in school history. Hunt played in 117 career games (11th in EWU history) with 51 starts, and had averages of 6.8 points, 4.5 rebounds and 1.3 assists. He had 14 double-doubles in his career (record of 10-4), and scored 20 points or more on six occasions. • Hunt was born in Geraldton, Australia, but spent his entire high school career in the United States and graduated from Sir Francis Drake High School in California in 2015. He is a management major and has a 3.57 grade point average at Eastern. Was nominated for Academic All-America honors as a both a senior and junior and will earn his fourth Big Sky All-Academic honor in the 2018-19 season. ***Bogdan Bliznyuk (2015-16-17-18) – BC KYIV Basket (Ukraine-Superleague); Bnei Hertzeliya (Israel-Winner League); LA Clippers (NBA) • In 31 games for Bnei Hertzeliya in Isreal in the 2018-19 season, Bliznyuk averaged 6.5 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 1.4 assists and made 36-of-46 free throws for 78.3 percent. • After becoming the Big Sky Conference all-time leading scorer, Bliznuk agreed to terms with the Los Angeles Clippers and represented the team in the NBA’s 2018 Summer League in Las Vegas from July 6-13. He played in three games and averaged 8.3 minutes and had a total of three points (1-of-3 shooting) with three rebounds, an assist and a steal. He scored his lone basket against the Los Angeles Lakers on July 12. • Bliznyuk trained in Los Angeles and had workouts with the Pistons and the Sacramento Kings. Bypassed in the NBA draft on June 21, he also went through EWU commencement exercises on June 16 after receiving his bachelor’s degree in management. • Bliznyuk, an All-American who scored 2,169 points in his career, scored 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting in the Reese’s College All-Star Game on March 30. He was one of just 20 players in the nation invited to play in the prestigious game at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas – site of the NCAA Division I “Final Four.” Bliznyuk started and led his West squad to a 98-94 victory over the East in the game, which is presented annually by the National Association of Basketball Coaches. He also finished the game with three rebounds and a pair of steals, and made four of his last five shots. • He then averaged 15.3 points and made half his shots in three games at the prestigious Portsmouth Invitational Basketball Tournament on April 12-14. Although he wasn’t chosen to the all-tournament team, he sank 18-of-36 shots from the field and scored a total of 46 points to rank 11th in the tournament. He also sank all six of his free throws to lead the tourney, and averaged 2.0 steals (second), and 3.3 assists (15th). In addition, he contributed 4.3 rebounds and made 4-of-10 3-pointers among the 64 players who were invited. The team he played on (Roger Brown’s) was 1-2, and he had 15 points, six rebounds, five assists and two steals in a victory in the squad’s final game. In his first game he had 14/3/1/2, and his second outing he had 17/4/4/2 on 8-of-11 shooting from the field. Sir Washington (2015-16-17-18) – Team Phoenix (Eurobasket S. League) • Washington played in three games for Phoenix in the summer of 2018-19 and averaged 8.0 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 1.7 assists. • He and teammate Bogdan Bliznyuk ended their careers as EWU’s winningest players in EWU’s 35-year history as a member of NCAA Division I. They won 86 games overall and 50 in the Big Sky Conference, and led the Eagles to national postseason tournaments in each of those four seasons. Washington finished his career fourth in school history with 123 career games played (26 as a starter) while averaging 5.6 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.3 assists, as well as 66 total steals and 17 blocked shots. ***Benas Griciunas (2018) – Neptunas Klaipeda (Lithuania-LKL); BC Siauliai (Lithuania-LKL) • In 24 games for BC Siauliai in 2019-20, Griciunas averaged 11.7 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 0.7 assists. He was 124-of-190 from the field for 65.3 percent but failed to sink a 3-point shot in 11 attempts. • In 32 games for BC Siauliai in 2018-19, Griciunas averaged 9.4 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 0.8 assists. He was 116-of-223 from the field for 52.0 percent, and 7-of-13 from the 3-point line for 53.8 percent. • A graduate transfer who came to EWU with 59 games of NCAA Division I experience, Griciunas averaged 5.2 points, 3.0 rebounds and 0.7 blocked shots in 34 games as a senior in the 2017-18 season.
2018/2017/2016 CBI TOURNAMENT • 2015/2004 NCAA TOURNAMENT • 2003 NIT • 2020/2015/2004/2000 BIG SKY CHAMPIONS
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