HONOLULU, Hawai’i – Western Washington University sophomore forward Daulton Hommes scored a career-high 37 points to lead the Vikings to a come-from-behind 80-76 victory over Harding University Saturday evening in the first game of the Hoops in Hawai’i Holiday Classic played at the Hawai’i Convention Center.
Hommes (Lynden, WA/Lynden Christian) was 11-for-18 from the field and was 15-for-16 from the free throw line in his career-high scoring performance. He also had a game-high 12 rebounds for his fourth career double-double. His 24 second-half points helped bring the Vikings back from a 15-point deficit to gain the victory and improve to 6-3 on the season. His previous career-high was 29 points in his collegiate debut Nov. 11, 2016 vs. Sonoma State.
Also scoring in double-digits for the Vikings was junior guard Siaan Rojas (Concord, CA/Santa Rosa JC) with 13 points (5-for-8 FG) and 11 points from junior guard Trey Drechsel (Woodinville, WA/Cedar Park Christian).
The Vikings shot 47.5% from the field (28-for-59) and were just 2-for-19 (10.5%) from 3-point range. Harding finished at 49.1% (28-for-57) in field goals and were 6-for-18 (33.3%) from 3-point range. WWU was 22-for-28 from the free throw line to hold a slight advantage over the Bisons (14-for-23).
Harding (0-8) had four players reach double-digits in scoring, led by 23 points from junior guard Reggie Anthony (9-for-13 FG) and 19 points by senior guard Tim Wagner ( 7-for-15 FG).
The Vikings trailed 39-34 at the half, with Harding pulling away from a 22-22 tie out-scoring WWU 17-12 over the final 7:33 of the half. Hommes led the Vikings with 13 points on 4-for-7 shooting (5-for-5 free throws) and Rojas added 7 points off the bench. Anthony led Harding with a first half-leading 13 points on 5-for-7 shooting, as three Bisons reached double figures in scoring in the first 20 minutes.
Harding opened the second half on a 10-0 run to extend its lead to 15 points at 49-34. WWU answered with a 23-6 run, led by 10 points from Hommes, to erase the deficit and pull ahead 59-57. The extended run included five consecutive points scored by Brad Wallace, including the game-tying field goal to pull even at 57-57. WWU continued the run scoring 12 of the next 19 points to take a 69-64 lead with 5:02 remaining in the game.
WWU held a 2-point lead at 71-69 when a Drechsel two-handed dunk with 1:22 left in the game cushioned the lead to 4 points. The Vikings held a 6-point lead at 76-71 with 22 seconds remaining in the game, but Harding cut the lead to 2 points at 78-76 on an Anthony layup with less than 10 seconds remaining. Before the Bisons could answer with a defensive stand, Hommes sealed the win with a dunk to cap his 37-point performance and send the Vikings to the victory.
Westerns returns to action tomorrow night in the Hoops in Hawai’i Holiday Classic facing Tampa (4-5) at 5:45 pm HT/7:45 pm PT.
Game Notes: The 37 points by Daulton Hommes marks the 15th scoring performance in program history with 37 or more points, and the most since Taylor Stafford scored 44 points last December at UC San Diego.
