BELLINGHAM, Wash. – Western Washington University senior forward Deandre Dickson scored 11 of his game-high 17 points in the second half, helping lead the Vikings to a 66-56 victory over visiting Alaska Anchorage Thursday night in Great Northwest Athletic Conference action on WECU Court at Carver Gym.
The Vikings won their fourth consecutive game to improve to 19-6 overall and remain in 2nd place in the GNAC at 14-3 in league play. Anchorage had its streak of consecutive victories snapped to fall to 12-12 overall and 8-9 in league play.
WWU held a 29-24 lead at the half, and then used a big 10-0 run early in the second half to take command of the game. After the early second-half surge, WWU’s lead would not dip below eight points the rest of the game.
WWU’s size advantage also played a big part in the victory, as the Vikings out-rebounded the Seawolves 35-21 and had a commanding 30-16 advantage in points scored in the paint.
“I thought the team did a really nice job early in the second half after we called the timeout of mentally focusing and dialing it in,” said head coach Tony Dominguez. “We have been working on our defense and it is all about focus. We know we can score, we just have to keep our focus on defense.”
Dickson (Easton, CA/Bakersfield College) reached double-digits in scoring for the fourth consecutive game, shooting 8-for-12. He also recorded game-highs with 3 steals and 2 blocks. The senior forward was 5-for-5 from the floor in the second half leading to his 11-point performance.
“Deandre played an incredibly complete game tonight and did all the intangibles. It was fun to watch him play,” added Dominguez on his senior forward.
Sophomore forward Daulton Hommes (Lynden, WA/Lynden Christian) added 14 points and 6 rebounds on 5-for-10 shooting. Junior point guard Trey Drechsel (Woodinville, WA/Cedar Park Christian) also reached double figures with 10 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals. Junior sixth man forward Siaan Rojas (Concord, CA/Santa Rosa JC) came off the bench to score 8 points with 6 rebounds and 5 assists.
The Seawolves were led by 11 points from senior guard D.J. Ursery and 10 points from junior guard Malik Clements. Sophomore forward Curtis Ryan also had a career-high 9 points.
WWU shot 47.3% from the field for the game (26-for-55), including 50.0% (15-for-30) in the second half.
The Vikings went on a late 7-0 run to finish the first half, grabbing a 5-point lead at 29-24 heading into intermission. The tightly-contested first 20 minutes featured three tie scores and six lead changes. Dickson led Western with 6 points on 3-for-7 shooting, with Hommes, junior center Logan Schilder (Bellingham, WA/Whatcom CC) and Rojas all contributing 4 points apiece. Ryan led UAA with 8 points, already setting a career high.
UAA led 24-22 with 2:11 remaining in the half after a 3-pointer by Ryan, but from there the Vikings closed out the half on a 7-0 run. Schilder leveled the score at 24-24 on a layup and junior guard Tyler Payne (Long Beach, CA/Cerritos College) hit a transition 3-pointer with 1:15 remaining to give the Vikings the lead.
The Seawolves scored the first basket of the second half to pull to within 3 points at 29-26, before the Vikings strung together the key 10-0 run. Dickson’s dunk at the 18:02 mark sparked the rally that would see the Vikings take a 13-point lead at 39-26. Hommes and Dickson each scored 5 points during the 10-0 run.
UAA would cut the lead to 8 points twice, at the 8:33 and 5:41 marks, but each time the Vikings had an answer to seal the season sweep of the Seawolves.
The Vikings (19-6, 14-3) host Alaska Fairbanks on Saturday for Senior Day at 3 pm inside Carver Gym. Seniors Deandre Dickson, Brad Wallace, Brett Kingma and Blake Fernandez will be honored in a pregame ceremony prior to the 3 pm tip-off. The 1987-88 WWU men’s basketball team will also be honored at the game celebrating the team’s trip to the NAIA national tournament.
Game Notes: WWU has held its opponent to under 70 points in each of the last three games…the Vikings earned a season sweep over Alaska Anchorage for the first time since the 2013-14 season…Daulton Hommes has scored in double-digits in 24 of 25 games and leads the team averaging 17.9 points per game…Deandre Dickson tied his career-high with 3 steals…WWU tied its season low with only 9 trips to the free throw line…Trey Drechsel has scored in double-digits in each of his last 10 games, averaging 18.3 points per game during this stretch…Logan Schilder recorded 2 blocked shots, giving him 93 in his career to move into the top 10 in WWU program history (10th place)…the game featured 6 lead changes and 3 ties, all coming in the first half.
