Friday, March 8, 2013

LACEY, Wash. - Forward Paul Jones  led a balanced attack with 12 points as top-seed Western Washington advanced to the championship game of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Championships with a 61-43 semifinal win over No.4 seed Alaska Fairbanks Friday at Marcus Pavilion.

Western Washington (27-1) will face No.2 seed Seattle Pacific (24-3) in Saturday’s championship game, which tips off at 7:30 p.m. and will be televised by ROOT Sports.  The Falcons defeated No.6-seed Central Washington 85-78 in Friday’s other semifinal.

Western Washington and Seattle Pacific are the No. 2 and No. 3 ranked teams in the lastest NABC national poll.

Dominique Brinson and Pat Voeut each had 10 points for Alaska Fairbanks which finished its season with a record of 16-12.  The Nanooks won just five games last season when they lost 23.

Friday's triumph avenged WWU’s only loss of the season, a 77-73 defeat at Fairbanks on Feb. 21.

The Vikings trailed with eight minutes left in the first half, but closed the period with a 19-7 run and held a 38-27 lead at halftime. WWU then opened the second half with six straight points in less than two minutes, capped by an Austin Bragg dunk that pushed the lead to 44-27 with 18:04 to play.

The margin was never less than 15 after that, as the Vikings held the Nanooks to just 16 points and 7-of-26 (26.9 percent) field-goal shooting in the second half.

The 43 points were the fewest allowed by WWU this season, and the 61 points scored matched its lowest output of the year.

GNAC Player of the Year John Allen had 11 points for the Vikings, as did reserve forward Cameron Severson. Severson also tied Jones for the renbounding lead as both players had nine.

The win was the first-ever GNAC tournament triumph for WWU in the third year of the event. The Vikings lost 77-75  to Northwest Nazarene in the opening round in 2011, and in 2012, received a bye before falling in the semifinals to Montana State Billings 82-78.