Monday, March 18, 2013

BELLINGHAM, Wash. - Guards Richard Woodworth, John Allen and Rico Wilkins combined for 51 points to lead defending national champion Western Washington to a 86-77 victory over Cal State  San Bernardino in Monday's second semifinal game of the NCAA Division II West Regional tournament at Sam Carver Gymnasium.

The Vikings, ranked No.4 in this week’s NABC NCAA Division II National Top 25 Poll and the No.1 seed in the West Regional, improved to 29-2 overall and face Seattle Pacific in the regional final Tuesday.  Tip off will be at 8:30 p.m.

WWU defeated SPU 56-50  in the 2012 West Regional final. The third-seeded Falcons advanced to the regional final earlier Monday defeating No. 2 seed Cal Poly Pomona 67-54.

Cal State San Bernardino, the No. 5 seed, concluded its season 20-9 despite a game-high 28 points from forward Kwame Alexander.

There were no leads of more than six points through the first 30 minutes of the contest, and for a stretch of nearly seven minutes early in the second half, neither team had a lead of more than two points.

Western finally pulled away by holding the Coyotes without a field goal for more than seven minutes, turning a 61-60 edge into a 76-73 advantage with 2:48 to play. 

Wilkins and forward Austin Bragg each had five points in the charge.

“We played a complete game tonight,” said WWU coach Tony Dominguez.  “We moved the ball on offense, then defensively we were really on it.”

Woodworth had a team-high 18 points, 12 in the first half. Allen had 17 points and five assists and Wilkins had 16 points, 11 in the last nine minutes.

Forward Paul Jones had 12 points and seven rebounds for Western, which had a dominating 39-19 advantage on the boards despite the inside preasence of Alexander who had eight rebounds.

Lacy Haddock, who played last year at Central Washington, had 20 points for Cal State San Bernardino, 15 of them in the first half.  The Coyotes also got 14 points from Brian Goins.

The triumph was the 26th straight at home for WWU, breaking the GNAC record of 25 set by Humboldt State (2001-03).  The Vikings are 16-0 at Carver Gym this season.

WWU and SPU have already met three times this season.  The Vikings claimed two regular-season triumphs, winning at Seattle (66-56) on Jan. 3, and at Bellingham (83-76) in overtime, on Feb. 2.

The Falcons, however, claimed a 72-70 triumph in the GNAC championship game at Lacey on Mar. 9 on a three-point shot in the game's final second.