Thursday, March 6, 2014

LACEY, Wash. – Freshman forward Jeffrey Parker hit four consecutive three-pointers to fuel a 19-0 run to close out the first half and second-seeded Western Washington went on to defeat Alaska Fairbanks 73-52 Thursday in the first semifinal of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Championships at Marcus Pavilion.

The Vikings (20-7) will face Seattle Pacific in Saturday’s 5:15 p.m. championship game.  The winner of that game will earn the GNAC's automatic berth in next week's NCAA Regional.  WWU is the two-time defending West Regional champion.

Alaska Fairbanks closed out their season with an 18-10 record.

WWU never trailed in the contest building early 8-2 and 17-5 leads.  They then put their game into high gear over the final 5:36 of the first half after the Nanooks had closed the gap to five points (19-14) on a layup by Stefan Tica.

The run started with a trey by Richard Woodworth.  Parker then scored the game’s next 12 points.  Two free throws by Dane Thorpe and a layup by Colby Mitchell sent the Vikings into the locker room with a 24-point lead.

Alaska Fairbanks outscored the Vikings 13-1 to start the second half to climb back to within 12 points (39-27) with 16:27 remaining, but Western then went on a 15-4 run to re-establish the lead at 23 points.  The Vikings led by as many as 27 in the second half and UAF never got closer than 21 over the final 10 minutes.

Parker, who had 16 points at the break, had a game-high 21 points, connecting on 7-of-10 shots, including 5-of-6 treys.  "I just came out firing," Parker said.  "I knew that I had to be aggressive."

Also in double figures was freshman Joey Schreiber with 14 points and Robert Harris with 10.

Anye Turner had 10 rebounds and Parker and Harris, who scored all of his points in the second half, had nine rebounds each as WWU controlled the backboards 43-29.

Ronnie Baker had 18 points to pace the Nanooks, while Sergej Pucar, who finished his career with 958 points, netted 12 points.

UAF made just 5-of-32 shots in the opening half and finished the contest shooting 29.0 percent (18-of-62).  WWU made nine more field goals in 10 fewer attempts (27-of-52) shooting 51.9 percent.

The Vikings were 9-of-17 from the arc, while UAF made 7-of-24 from the three-point line including 4-of-7 by Baker.

Western Washington, which played most of the second half without Woodworth who sustained an injury to his right knee one minute into the period, clinched a third straight 20-win season, including two under coach Tony Dominguez who became the first coach in school history to reach the 20-win plateau in each of his first two seasons.

"Once we got comfortable, we got into a groove," Dominguez said.  "Everything began to click."