BELLINGHAM, Wash. – Western Washington University had six players reach double-figures in scoring and led from wire-to-wire in a 86-64 victory over Simon Fraser Tuesday night in Great Northwest Athletic Conference action on WECU Court in Carver Gym.
After a mini three-game losing streak, the Vikings have rebounded with consecutive victories to improve to 17-6 overall and remain in second place in the GNAC with a 12-3 league mark. Simon Fraser falls to 9-14 overall and 3-12 in league play.
Senior forward Deandre Dickson (Easton, CA/Bakersfield College) and sophomore forward Daulton Hommes (Lynden, WA/Lynden Christian) each had 15 points to lead the Vikings balanced offense. Dickson filled up the stat sheet with 7 rebounds, a career-high 5 assists and tied his career high with 5 blocks. Hommes was 5-for-10 from the field to reach double-figures for the 22nd time in 23 games this season.
Junior center Logan Schilder (Bellingham, WA/Whatcom CC) recorded his fourth double-double of the season with 10 points and 11 rebounds, and also added one blocked shot. Junior point guard Trey Drechsel (Woodinville, WA/Cedar Park Christian) neared double-double territory with 13 points and 9 rebounds.
Sophomore guard Trevor Jasinsky (Camas, WA) had 11 points and senior guard Brad Wallace (Lacey, WA/River Ridge) came off the bench to score 11 points in 15 minutes of action.
The Vikings shot 50.9% from the field (29-for-57) and were 22-for-26 from the free throw line. Western held a 38-25 advantage in rebounding and out-blocked the Clan 7-0.
SFU was led by a game-high 23 points from the GNAC leading scorer Kedar Salam on 9-for-18 shooting. Othniel Spence (12 points), Jordan Muir-Keung (10 points) and Michael Provenzano (10 points) also reached double-digits in scoring. The Clan were without their second-leading scorer JJ Pankratz, who did not make the trip over the border after suffering a hand injury in SFU’s last game at Central Washington.
The Viking led from the start, scoring the first seven points of the game, and build their lead to as many as 14 points. WWU took a 44-31 lead into halftime, led by 11 points each from Hommes (3-6 FG), Dickson (3-5 FG) and Jasinsky (4-6 FG). Western shot 50.0% from the floor (13-for-26) and out-rebounded the Clan 20-10 in the first 20 minutes of the game. Salam led all players with 12 points on 5-for-10 shooting.
WWU continued its momentum from the first half, leading by double-digits nearly the entire second half. SFU went on a 6-0 run over a two-minute stretch to cut the lead to single-digits at 54-45, but the Vikings answered with a 7-0 run to build the lead back to 16 points at 61-45. Schilder had 9 of his 11 points in the second half and Wallace had 10 points on 3-for-3 shooting.
The Vikings (17-6, 12-3) return to action Thursday hosting Montana State Billings at 7 pm on WECU Court in Carver Gym. Tickets are available via the WWU Box Office on campus an online via WWUVikings.com/Tickets.
Game Notes: WWU shot over 50.0% for the fourth time in the last five games…Daulton Hommes has scored in double-digits in 22 of 23 games this season and 43 of 54 games in his career…Hommes passed 800 points in his career (806 career points)…Logan Schilder recorded his 90th career blocked shot, 12th-most in WWU history and tied for 24th in GNAC history…with 7 blocks tonight the Vikings now have 148 blocked shots on the season (6.43 per game)…Deandre Dickson tied his career-high in blocked shots (5) and set a career-high in assists (5)…over his last 8 games Trey Drechsel is averaging 20.0 points and 7.9 rebounds per game.
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 1,475 victories and a .591 winning percentage.
— @WWUHoops —
