SEATTLE – Brayden Maldonado kept hitting the basket. Junseok Yeo hit a milestone.
Maldonado tallied 26 points on a phenomenal 10-of-11 shooting from the floor, Yeo scored a career-high 17 – just his second game ever in double digits – and Seattle University men's basketball rolled to a 94-67 victory against Eastern Washington on Wednesday night inside Redhawk Center.
Austin Maurer added a career-high 13 points for the Redhawks (2-1), who bounced emphatically from Saturday’s heartbreaking 73-71 loss to Cal Poly on a buzzer-beater.
Senior guard Maldonado buried all six of his shots from 2-point range and was 4-of-5 from behind the arc. It was just nine days ago in the season opener against Denver when Maldonado poured in a career-best 28 points.
Yeo, who hails from Seoul, South Korea, and joined the Redhawks this season after playing the past two years at Gonzaga, hit 7-of-10 from the field, with 3-of-5 from 3-point range. He also grabbed five rebounds and handed out two assists.
His only other game in double figures was a 10-point performance for Gonzaga on Dec. 5, 2023 against Arkansas-Pine Bluff. He surpassed that with his 11th point of the night on a 3-pointer with 11:15 left in the opening half, giving Seattle U its first double-digit lead of the night at 25-15.
Maurer’s 13-point night on 6-of-8 shooting more than doubled his previous career scoring high of six.
“Our guys were hungry. They had a bad taste in their mouths from the last we played out here against Cal Poly,” Head Coach Chris Victor said. “To have performances like that from Brayden – what a special night he had – and Jun came out and hit some shots early. Those guys came out and played with confidence. Then off the bench, Austin played well and Brock (Felder) played well. We had some really good performances by multiple guys tonight.”
The Redhawks started hot and stayed that way for the entire 40 minutes. They hit five of their first six shots, finished the first half at 65.5 percent (19-of-29), followed up with a 64.3 percent second half (18-of-28) and wound up at 64.9 percent (37-of-57) for the night. That included 55 percent accuracy (11-of-20) behind the arc.
At the other end, the Seattle U defense kept Eastern Washington (0-4) 10 points below its pre-game scoring average of 77.67 points.
“I thought we were close in the first half. We were playing well and making shots and came out ready to go,” Victor said. “But we were missing something on defense. So I challenged the guys at halftime and they came out in the second half and played great defense and really separated themselves. We needed to step up our game, and I’m glad to see how we can play on both sides of the basketball – making shots, but attached to the defensive side of it, too.”
Down 8-6, Seattle U ran off six straight points for a 12-8 lead, then put together an 8-0 run to extend a 14-13 edge to 22-13. The margin grew to as many as 14 points at 48-34 in the final seconds of the half before Eastern cut it to 48-37 at the buzzer.
The Redhawks scored the first five points of the second half to make it a 16-point bulge at 53-37. It gradually grew to as many as 34 points at 86-52 with 5:08 left in the game.
By the Numbers
- While the Redhawks were shooting in the mid 60s, they limited Eastern Washington to 43.1 percent (25-of-58).
- Seatle U had its best night of the season at the free-throw line, shooting 69.2 percent (9-of-13).
- The Redhawks won the rebounding battle, 33-27. Yeo and Will Heimbrodt had five each.
- Maleek Arington handed out six assists. SU had helpers on 21 of its 37 baskets.
Up Next
The Redhawks concluded their season-opening, four-game homestand on Saturday when Idaho State comes to Redhawk Center. Tip-off is at 7:00 p.m.
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