Friday, March 6, 2015

BILLINGS, Mont. - Jeffrey Parker  scored 15 of his team-high 20 points in the first half as Western Washington  upended Western Oregon 88-79 Friday in the second semifinal game of the GNAC Men's Basketball Championships at Alterowitz Gymnasium.

The Vikings, the No.5 seed in the tourney, improved to 20-10 with their 10th straight triumph, and now play No.2 seed Seattle Pacific in the tourney championship game Saturday at 7:30 p.m. (Mountain Time).  SPU beat Northwest Nazarene 73-54 in its semifinal.

The winner earns an automatic berth in next week’s NCAA West Regional and the loser likely will have its season come to and end as Seattle Pacific was ranked just 10th in this week's regional poll and the Vikings were unranked.

Seattle Pacific is looking for its 11th consecutive appearance in the NCAA Division II tournament.  Its current streak of 10 is the longest of any team in Division II.

WOU, ranked No.24 in this week’s NABC NCAA Division II Top 25 Poll and the No.1 seed after winning the GNAC regular-season title, fell to 23-6 despite the game-high 29 points of GNAC Player of the Year Andy Avgi.

Five Vikings reached double figures, including center Mac Johnson, who had an outstanding all-around game with 12 points on 6-of-6 field goal shooting, eight rebounds and a game-high eight assists.

“We’re excited about the win, we beat a very good team,” said WWU coach Tony Dominguez, who became the first coach in school history to post 20 victories in each of his first three seasons.  “We’re playing good defense, and offensively we’re moving the ball.” 

The Vikings used a run of 11 straight points in a 2:07 span to open up a 15-7 lead five minutes into the game. Parker had the first nine points  before Kyle Impero finished it off with a dunk.

WWU led by as much as 10 in the opening half, and shot 60.7 percent (17-of-28) from the field in taking a 41-32 lead at halftime.

WOU pulled within five points in the opening minute of the second half, but never got that close again. The Vikings never led by less than seven points in the final 10 minutes, and had a 77-61 advantage with 3:32 to play.

Joey Schreiber  had 15 points for the Vikings.   Ricardo Maxwell  added 14 points, and Impero had 12 points and eight rebounds.  For the game, the Vikings shot 61.1 percent (33-of-54) from the field and had a 29-20 advantage in rebounds.

WWU first-team GNAC all-star Anye Turner picked up two fouls in the first 30 seconds and played just seven minutes before fouling out.

In addition to Avgi’s 29, Western Oregon also got 15 points from Julian Nichols, 14 from Devon Alexander and 13 from Jordan Wiley.

WWU is still looking for its first GNAC tourney title despite winning a national championship in 2012, reaching the national semifinals in 2013, winning two West Regional titles, and taking two GNAC regular-season crowns during the first four years of the tourney.

The NCAA will announce the eight qualifiers for the regional on Sunday at 7:30 p.m. Pacific time with a webcast on ncaa.com.