LACEY, Wash. – Western Washington University sophomore forward Daulton Hommes scored a game-high 29 points to lead the Vikings to a 90-86 victory over Saint Martin’s University Saturday night in Great Northwest Athletic Conference action inside Marcus Pavilion.
The Vikings continued their perfect start to the GNAC season at 4-0 and improved to 9-3 on the season with their fourth consecutive victory. WWU (9-3, 4-0 GNAC) held off a late Saint Martin’s run to remain atop the conference standings.
“I am really proud of our team for how they have mentally prepared for these games and battled through some adversity,” said head coach Tony Dominguez. “We played a very good team tonight on the road and they did everythinGNAg we asked. I thought our bench players, especially Siaan Rojas, did a phenomenal job tonight and overall it was a very good team effort.”
WWU led by as many as 13 points early in the second half and held a double-digit lead at 79-68 with fewer than four minutes remaining in the game. The Saints battled back with a furious rally to pull to within two points at 86-84 with 17 seconds remaining in the game following a 3-pointer by Luke Chavez. But the Vikings went 4-for-4 at the free throw line down the stretch to seal the four-point victory.
Hommes (Lynden, WA/Lynden Christian) led all players with 29 points on 8-for-17 shooting (4-for-8 3-pointers), and was a perfect 9-for-9 from the free throw line. The sophomore added 7 rebounds and 2 blocked shots.
“Daulton was calm, collected and smooth tonight,” added Dominguez on the postgame radio show with Doug Lange.
Senior Deandre Dickson (Easton, CA/Bakersfield College) just missed the double-double with 15 points and 9 rebounds, also adding a career-high 5 blocked shots.
“Deandre is the focus of a lot of the teams when trying to defend our team and I really thought he was dialed in tonight,” added Dominguez. “He had a really balanced night and was smart and productive on the court.”
Also reaching double-digits in scoring for Western was redshirt junior guard Siaan Rojas (Concord, CA/Santa Rosa JC) with 12 points off the bench, and 11 points each from junior guard Trey Drechsel (Woodinville, WA/Cedar Park Christian) and sophomore guard/forward Trevor Jasinsky (Camas, WA). Drechsel recorded a game-high 9 assists and also grabbed 3 rebounds.
Overall the Vikings shot 50.9% from the field (28-for-55) and 8-for-19 (42.1%) from 3-point range, and were 26-for-32 (81.3%) from the free throw line. The Vikings were edged for the second straight game in the rebounding department (36-34), but out-blocked the Saints 9-1 and had a 16-8 advantage in assists.
Saint Martin’s (9-3, 2-2 GNAC) was led by 25 points from Chavez (8-for-18 FG) and 9 points and 9 rebounds from Tavian Henderson. Overall the Saints shot 43.8% from the field (28-for-64) and were 8-for-21 from 3-point range.
The Vikings raced out to the lead with a solid first half, pulling away from a 7-7 tie by going on a 15-4 run to build a 22-11 lead, en route to a 40-33 lead at halftime. SMU cut the lead to 5 points late in the half at 38-33, but Dickson beat the buzzer with a fastbreak layup after blocking the Saints last shot of the half on the defensive end. Hommes led the Vikings with 13 points on 5-for-10 shooting (2-for-3 3-pointers) and Jasinsky added 9 points, all coming on 3-pointers. WWU shot 48.3% from the floor (14-for-29), while holding the Saints to a 38.7 percentage (12-for-31).
WWU opened the second half on a 6-0 run to grow its lead to 13 points at 46-33. SMU answered with a 20-11 run to close to within four points at 57-53. After building the lead back up to 11 points at 79-68, SMU came right back with a 9-0 run to make it a three-point game at 79-76. The 3-pointer by Chavez with 17 seconds remaining pulled SMU to within 2 points at 86-84, but Hommes and Rojas both made a pair of free throws to seal the victory.
The Vikings return home next week hosting Northwest Nazarene (Thursday, Jan. 4) and Central Washington (Saturday, Jan. 6) in GNAC play. Both games begin at 7 pm on WECU Court in Carver Gym.
Game Notes: Daulton Hommes led the Vikings in scoring for the fifth time this season, scoring in double-digits for the 11 time (out of 12 games)…Deandre Dickson recorded a career-high 5 blocked shots…WWU led for 38:55 out of 40 minutes of the game, with its largest lead of 13 points early in the second half…WWU is 4-0 away from Bellingham this season…the Vikings have now won their last 12 games against GNAC opponents dating back to last season.
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 1,467 victories and a .590 winning percentage.
— @WWUHoops —
| Western Washington | 4-0 | 1.000 | 9-3 | .750 | 5-3 | 2-0 | 2-0 | Won 4 |
| Western Oregon | 3-1 | .750 | 11-1 | .917 | 7-0 | 4-1 | 0-0 | Won 4 |
| Alaska Anchorage | 3-1 | .750 | 7-5 | .583 | 5-4 | 2-1 | 0-0 | Won 1 |
| Saint Martin’s | 2-2 | .500 | 9-3 | .750 | 4-1 | 3-1 | 2-1 | Lost 1 |
| Central Washington | 2-2 | .500 | 7-4 | .636 | 4-2 | 1-0 | 2-2 | Won 4 |
| Seattle Pacific | 2-2 | .500 | 7-4 | .636 | 3-1 | 3-2 | 1-1 | Won 1 |
| Northwest Nazarene | 2-2 | .500 | 6-4 | .600 | 5-1 | 1-3 | 0-0 | Lost 2 |
| Alaska | 2-2 | .500 | 4-6 | .400 | 1-2 | 1-2 | 2-2 | Lost 2 |
| Simon Fraser | 1-3 | .250 | 7-5 | .583 | 5-1 | 0-3 | 2-1 | Lost 2 |
| Montana State Billings | 1-3 | .250 | 9-6 | .600 | 6-2 | 1-4 | 2-0 | Won 1 |
| Concordia | 0-4 | .000 | 4-8 | .333 | 2-4 | 0-4 | 2-0 | Lost 8 |
| 5 | Drechsel,Trey | g | 4-10 | 0-1 | 3-4 | 0-3 | 3 | 5 | 11 | 9 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 38 |
| 15 | Schilder,Logan | c | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 2-3 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 |
| 23 | Dickson,Deandre | f | 5-11 | 0-2 | 5-6 | 1-8 | 9 | 4 | 15 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 36 |
| 24 | Jasinsky,Trevor | f | 4-7 | 3-5 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 2 | 5 | 11 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 23 |
| 25 | Hommes,Daulton | f | 8-17 | 4-8 | 9-9 | 1-6 | 7 | 1 | 29 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 39 |
| 2 | Fernandez,Blake | – | 3-4 | 0-0 | 3-5 | 0-1 | 1 | 4 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19 |
| 4 | Wallace,Brad | – | 1-1 | 0-0 | 1-3 | 1-1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| 10 | Rojas,Siaan | – | 3-5 | 1-3 | 5-5 | 1-2 | 3 | 1 | 12 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 26 |
| Team Totals…………….. | – | 28-55 | 8-19 | 26-32 | 6-28 | 34 | 24 | 90 | 16 | 15 | 9 | 4 | 200 | |
| WWU Leader | 50.9% | 42.1% | 81.3% | |||||||||||
| Score by Half | 1st | 2nd | Total |
| Western Washington (9-3, 4-0) | 40 | 50 | 90 |
| Saint Martin’s (9-3, 2-2) | 33 | 53 | 86 |
