LOUISVILLE - Despite a furious second-half comeback, Western Washington’s run at a second consecutive national championship came to an end Saturday as the nationally fourth-ranked Vikings fell to Drury 107-97 in the NCAA Division II national semifinals at Freedom Hall.

Guard Rico Wilkins  came off the bench to lead WWU, which finished its season with a 31-3 record, with 27 points, hitting 8-of-13 3-pointers.  Wilkins had 21 of his points in the second half.

Guard Alex Hall scored 23 of his game-high 35 points in the first half for No. 7 Drury (30-4), which ran its winning streak to 22 games.  The Panthers will meet No.3-rated Metro State (31-3) in the national title contest next Sunday in Atlanta.

The Vikings fell behind early, and were down by 24 points (71-47) with 13:45 left in the game. They still trailed by 17 (79-62) with a little over nine minutes left, but then made a big charge, going on a 17-6 run to narrow the margin to six (85-79) with 4:48 to play.

The Panthers then pushed their lead back to 18, as back-to-back breakaway dunks by Cameron Adams triggered a 14-2 run. WWU had one last push, getting the gap down to eight twice in the final minute.

Guard Richard Woodworth had 19 points and five assists for Western. Forward Paul Jones had 16 points and 11 rebounds, forward Austin Bragg added 11 points and forward Cam Severson chipped in with 10. Guard John Allen, a third-team All-American, was limited to five points and three assists.

Drury took control quickly as Hall hit four 3-pointers in the first three minutes to give the Panthers a 14-6 lead.  The Vikings pulled to within two (21-19) on a Woodworth layin with 9:16 left in the first half and were still down by just three (27-24) after an Allen 3-pointer with seven minutes remaining in the period.

But then the roof caved in on the Vikings as Drury went on a 19-5 burst in a 3:29 span to open up a 46-29 lead 2:50 before halftime and held a 50-32 advantage at the break. WWU had not trailed by more than six points at halftime this season prior to Saturday.

“Congratulations to Drury, they played very well,” said WWU coach Tony Dominguez. “We were not at our best from the beginning. We struggled defensively early on and that got us rattled, when you dig yourself a hole it can be tough to get back in.”

Guard Brandon Lockhart had 24 points and eight assists for the Panthers and forward Ian Carter added 19 points and eight rebounds.
Drury made 9-of-13 3-pointers with Hall going 7-of-10. Hall was 10-of-15 overall from the field and 8-of-10 on free throws.

“We switch a lot defensively to prevent 3-pointers,” said Dominguez.  “We didn’t do a good job of that at the beginning. Alex Hall is an extremely good player, if you give an All-American and great shooter open looks, he’s going to hit them.”

The Vikings had defeated the Panthers (72-69) on Dec. 18, at the South Point Holiday Hoops Classic in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The loss snapped a 10-game national tournament winning streak for the Vikings, who were making their third Elite Eight appearance. They reached the semifinals in 2001 as well as winning the national championship last year.          

Allen concluded his career with 1,480 points, which ranks seventh in school history.