BELLINGHAM, Wash. – Western Washington University senior forward Deandre Dickson scored a game-high 25 points to lead five Vikings in double figures, but WWU couldn’t overcome a late rally by Seattle Pacific in a 92-88 setback Saturday afternoon in Great Northwest Athletic Conference action on WECU Court in Carver Gym.
The game was tied 84-84 with 1:27 remaining in the game, the 12th tie score of the game, before the Falcons went on a 4-0 run to take a lead they would not relinquish the rest of the way. With under a minute to play, SPU grabbed a pair of key offensive rebounds to keep possession and pull away from the 84-84 tie.
After opening the conference season 10-0, the 23rd-ranked Vikings dropped their second consecutive GNAC game to fall to 15-5 overall and 10-2 in league play. SPU earned the season split with the Vikings to improve to 12-7 overall and 7-5 in league play.
Dickson (Easton, CA/Bakersfield College) just missed the double-double with a game-high 9 rebounds, scoring 15 of his season-high 25 points in the second half. He was an efficient 8-for-12 from the field and was 9-for-11 from the free throw line. He also recorded 3 assists and 3 blocks in 33 minutes on the floor.
Redshirt junior sixth man Siaan Rojas (Concord, CA/Santa Rosa JC) added a career-high 16 points on 6-for-11 shooting and also grabbed 4 rebounds. Junior point guard Trey Drechsel (Woodinville, WA/Cedar Park Christian) scored in double-digits for the fifth consecutive game with 15 points, also adding 7 rebounds, and sophomore forward Daulton Hommes (Lynden, WA/Lynden Christian) and sophomore guard Trevor Jasinsky (Camas, WA) both contributed 14 points.
The Falcons were led by a career-high 21 points from sophomore guard Gabe Colosimo, as six of the eight players that saw action scored in double-digits. Junior forward Nathan Streufert helped the balanced offense with 15 points and 6 rebounds and freshman guard Braden Olsen added 14 points off the bench.
Both teams shot over 50.0% from the field in the game, with WWU edging SPU 52.5% (32-for-61) to 51.7% (31-for-60).
The Vikings led for most of the first half, and grew their lead to as many as 12 points midway through the half, but a last-second SPU 3-pointer gave the Falcons a 49-47 lead at the break. WWU led 31-19 with 10:21 left in the half, but the Falcons went on a 9-0 run to cut the lead to 3 points at 31-28. SPU went on a 19-9 run to end the half, with Coleman Wooten’s last-second 3-pointer giving the Falcons the two-point halftime lead.
WWU was led by 11 points from Drechsel, and 10 points each from Dickson (4-5 FG) and Jasinsky (4-7 FG). WWU shot 56.3% from the field (18-32) and was 5-for-12 (41.7%) from 3-point range. SPU had two players reach double figures in the first half, led by 14 points from Colosimo (6-10 FG) and 10 points from Olsen (3-5 FG). SPU shot 58.1% from the field (18-31) and was 6-for-11 from beyond the arc (54.5%).
SPU carried the momentum from the end of the first half into the second half, building its lead to as many as 8 points at 71-63 with 11:14 remaining. WWU chipped away at the deficit, going on a 14-6 run to pull even at 77-77 on a Dickson layup with 5:01 left in the game. A back-and-forth affair ensued with a tie score at 79-79, and included five lead changes, before the Falcons pulled away down the stretch.
Dickson’s jumper with 2:40 remaining gave the Vikings an 83-82 lead, but on the next possession SPU guard Harry Cavell drove the lane for a two-handed dunk to put SPU back up by one point, 84-83. Hommes leveled the score at 84-84 hitting 1-of-2 free throws, before SPU went on the deciding 4-0 spurt.
The Vikings (15-5, 10-2) return to the road next week with conference games at Central Washington (Thursday, 7:30 pm) and Northwest Nazarene (Saturday, 7:30 pm MT/6:30 pm PT). Thursday’s game vs. the Wildcats will be streamed live online on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app.
Game Notes: The game was televised regionally on ROOT SPORTS with Brad Adam and Francis Williams calling the action…all 5 of WWU’s losses this season have come inside Carver Gym (7-5 at home, 8-0 on the road), the most losses in the on-campus facility since going 8-5 in 1997-98 (played last two seasons at Whatcom Community College)…WWU allowed 94 (Thursday vs. Saint Martin’s) and 92 (today vs. SPU) in back-to-back games, the top two scoring games by a Western opponent this season…first time to allow 90+ points in consecutive games since Dec. 30-31, 2016 (98 vs. Simon Fraser, 100 vs. MSU Billings)…Deandre Dickson scored a game-high 25 points after being held to 6 points combined in the last two games…Daulton Hommes has scored in double-digits in 19 of 20 games this season and leads the team averaging 17.7 points per game…Trey Drechsel has scored in double-digits in five consecutive games, scoring 103 points over this stretch (20.6 points per game)…Siaan Rojas has scored 10+ points in three straight games, and is averaging 9.1 points per game as WWU’s sixth man…senior guard Brad Wallace scored 2 points and had 2 rebounds on his 24th birthday.
About WWU Basketball:
One of the premier basketball programs in NCAA Division II, recording a 20-win season in seven of the last nine seasons. WWU is a six-time Great Northwest Athletic Conference champion and has appeared in the NCAA II Elite 8 three times. The Vikings won the 2011-12 NCAA Division II National Championship and advanced the following season to the NCAA II Final Four. Western is coming off a 2016-17 season where the program went 25-6, winning the GNAC regular season and conference championships title, and advanced to the NCAA Division II Championships as the No. 3 seed in the West Region. The program enters its 116th season, having combined for 1,473 victories and a .591 winning percentage.
— @WWUHoops —
