POCATELLO — Geno Luzcando took his spot at the end of Idaho State’s handshake line.

As he cycled through Eastern Washington’s players and coaches, Luzcando embraced nearly every one with a hug. When he reached the end of that line, he slowly walked off the Reed Gym floor for the final time.

Luzcando played his last home game Saturday, a 74-69 loss to the Eagles in which ISU’s second-half rally came up short. The Bengals (13-14, 8-8 Big Sky Conference) overcame a 15-point, second-half deficit to take a late lead, but Eastern (16-13, 11-5 Big Sky) held on down the stretch, thanks to a key 3-pointer and timely free throws.

Luzcando scored 13 points to go along with four assists, three rebounds and two steals in his final act in Pocatello.

The four-year fan favorite shared a long applause with the crowd after he was honored during pregame senior-day ceremonies, and squeezed every second out of his sendoff as he could.

Luzcando is Idaho State’s all-time leader in steals, and is among the program’s best in multiple other statistical categories. His 1,138 career points rank 17th in team history, and he still at least three games to add to it.

On Saturday, Luzcando was outdueled by one of the Big Sky’s best.

Eagles senior Bogdan Bliznyuk scored a team-high 17 points, chipping in eight rebounds, three assists, two steals and the game’s final lead-changing bucket.

After Idaho State took its first lead of the night at 69-68 with 2 minutes, 1 second to play on a Balint Mocsan corner 3-pointer, Bliznyuk answered with a 3 of his own to beat the shot clock. The Eagles added the game’s final three points from the foul line to silence a Reed Gym crowd that grew more raucous with every Bengals basket as the home team slowly cut its deficit.

Bliznyuk entered the game with 1,996 career points, and is now one of five players in Big Sky history with more than 2,000.

The 6-foot-6 guard muscled his way into the paint for crafty jump shots, passed out of double-teams and forced the Bengals to defend him without fouling. Bliznyuk has made 65 consecutive free throws, eight shy of tying the NCAA Division I regular-season record set in 2000-01.

Bliznyuk did not shoot a free throw Saturday, but hurt ISU in nearly every other area.

“He’s really smart and long,” Luzcando said. “He can really handle the ball. When he does a crossover, he’s so long and so slow that you think that he’s going (one) way.”

Bliznyuk and the Eagles raced out to a seven-point lead 3:08 into the game, and increased their advantage to as many as 13 points before halftime. EWU shot 50 percent in the opening frame, while Idaho State struggled to find a rhythm and shot 40 percent. Eastern led 38-25 at the break.

The Eagles’ lead was 15 points 1:50 into the second half, but momentum started to shift. The Bengals went on an 8-0 run to cut their deficit to seven points with 15:44 remaining, and a 7-0 spurt finally shrunk it to 66-63 with 3:45 to play.

Brandon Boyd and Mocsan hit back-to-back 3s to give ISU its 69-68 lead, but Mocsan’s triple was the Bengals’ last basket. Mocsan took a 2-point shot to try and tie the game with 36 seconds on the clock, but it clanked off the rim. Down four on their next possession, the Bengals turned the ball over before attempting a shot.

“It was a game of mistakes,” ISU coach Bill Evans said. “Team that makes the least amount of mistakes wins.”

Bliznyuk was buoyed by 3-point specialists Jack Perry and Cody Benzel. The two combined to bury nine triples on 17 attempts, clipping each comeback push the Bengals made.

Eastern missed its first six 3s of the second half, but sunk 7 of 11 over the final 14:22.

“They made some big ones,” Evans said.

ISU could hardly miss after halftime, making eight of its first 10 shots and eight in a row over a span of 6:30. The Bengals shot 16 of 23 (69.6 percent) in the second half to finish at 54.2 percent for the game.

“Nothing was going well in the first half,” Luzcando said. “We were tired. We weren’t focused. We weren’t playing hard. … Then in the second half, we were like, ‘We have to try to fight back.’ That’s what we did, and then the rim opened up.”

Boyd scored a game-high 23 points to lead the Bengals, making 5 of 6 tries from the arc. Novak Topalovic added 17 points, and Jared Stutzman had seven.

Luzcando was recognized with ISU’s other three departing seniors: Hayes Garrity, Erik Nakken and Kyle Ingram. Ingram, who is out for the season with an injury, was represented on the court by Topalovic, who swapped his No. 15 jersey for Ingram’s No. 35.

With the loss, Idaho State is out of contention for a top-four Big Sky tournament seed and first-round bye. The Bengals enter the final week of the regular season in seventh place, tied with Portland State at 8-8 in league play.

Next week, ISU plays at Montana State and first-place Montana.

“We can play with the best of them when we play right,” Evans said.

Video: Idaho State men's basketball vs. Eastern Washington