EWU's Bogdan Bliznyuk Collects AP All-America Honorable Mention Accolades
OGDEN, Utah (March 27, 2018) – Eastern Washington senior guard/forward Bogdan Bliznyuk continued to rack up honors Tuesday after being named an Associated Press All-America Honorable Mention selection.
Bliznyuk closed out an impressive four-year playing career with the Eagles two weeks ago, setting the Big Sky Conference all-time scoring record with 2,169 points while guiding Eastern Washington to four-straight postseason appearances.
The new Big Sky career scoring standard surpassed a 24-year record of 2,102 points set by Idaho’s Orlando Lightfoot (1991-94).
The Lutsk, Ukraine, native was named the league’s most valuable player after averaging 21.2 points, 6.8 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game. Bliznyuk was the lone player in the league to rank in the top five in points (22.2), rebounds (7.6) and assists (4.8) during conference play, being named the conference's player of the week five times.
On Mar. 3, Bliznyuk snapped a 17-year NCAA Division I single-season record with his 74th consecutive made free throw in a win over Northern Arizona in the regular season finale. His streak reached 77-straight makes from Dec. 31 to Mar. 8, shooting 90.2 percent (166-of-184) on the season and 98.7 percent (78-of-79) during Big Sky play.
Named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) All-District 6 Team this month, Bliznyuk was chosen to take part in the 2018 Reese's
® College All-Star game. The game, hosted by the NABC, will tipoff Friday at 3:35 p.m. CDT from the Alamodome in San Antonio as part of the 2018 NCAA Men's Final Four
®. It will air on CBS Sports Network.
Bliznyuk led Eastern Washington to a 20-15 record and No. 3 seed in the conference tournament this season, advancing to the Big Sky Championship before an 82-65 defeat to top seed Montana. He played in his 138th and final collegiate game on Mar. 13 in the first round of the College Basketball Invitational (CBI) at Utah Valley. Against the Wolverines, Bliznyuk broke the EWU single-season scoring record with a three-pointer on the final shot of his career with 20 seconds remaining. His new record of 741 points sits sixth in the Big Sky single-season record books.
He finished his career with 16 school records and set the Big Sky career (193) and single-season (82) tournament scoring records this season.
2018 AP ALL-AMERICA TEAM
First Team
Jalen Brunson, Villanova
Deandre Ayton, Arizona
Trae Young, Oklahoma
Marvin Bagley III, Duke
Devonte’ Graham, Kansas
Second Team
Keita Bates-Diop, Ohio State
Trevon Bluiett, Xavier
Jock Landale, Saint Mary’s
Miles Bridges, Michigan State
Jevon Carter, West Virginia
Third Team
Keenan Evans, Texas Tech
Carsen Edwards, Purdue
Mikal Bridges, Villanova
Luke Maye, North Carolina
Kyle Guy, Virginia
Honorable Mention (alphabetical order)
Jaylen Adams, St. Bonaventure; Peyton Aldridge, Davidson; Grayson Allen, Duke; Mo Bamba, Texas; Trae Bell-Haynes, Vermont; Joel Berry II, North Carolina; Bogdan Bliznyuk, Eastern Washington; Desonta Bradford, ETSU; Tony Carr, Penn State; Gary Clark, Cincinnati; Xavier Cooks, Winthrop; Jermaine Crumpton, Canisius; Clayton Custer, Loyola of Chicago; Mike Daum, South Dakota State; Angel Delgado, Seton Hall; Kahlil Dukes, Niagara; Tre’Shaun Fletcher, Toledo; Marcus Foster, Creighton; Brandon Goodwin, Florida Gulf Coast; Isaac Haas, Purdue; Aaron Holiday, UCLA; Jordan Howard, Central Arkansas; Jemerrio Jones, New Mexico State; Nick King, Middle Tennessee; Kevin Knox, Kentucky; Fletcher Magee, Wofford; Caleb Martin, Nevada; Kelan Martin, Butler; Yante Maten, Georgia; Martaveous McKnight, Arkansas-Pine Bluff; Kendrick Nunn, Oakland; Shamorie Ponds, St. John’s; Jerome Robinson, Boston College; Junior Robinson, Mount St. Mary’s; Collin Sexton, Alabama; Landry Shamet, Wichita State; T.J. Shorts II, UC Davis; D’Marcus Simonds, Georgia State; Jonathan Stark, Murray State; Brandon Tabb, Bethune-Cookman; Zach Thomas, Bucknell; Seth Towns, Harvard; Allonzo Trier, Arizona; Grant Williams, Tennessee; Johnathan Williams, Gonzaga; Justin Wright-Foreman, Hofstra