Box Score BELLINGHAM, Wash. – Fifteenth-ranked Western Washington rallied from as many as nine points down and used a pair of three-pointers late in the game to down Alaska 77-72 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's basketball on Saturday night at Carver Gymnasium on the campus of WWU.
The Vikings maintained their game and a half lead in the conference standings as they improved to 22-3 on the year and 13-1 in league play, while the Nanooks dropped their 12th in a row to dip to 4-21 and 1-14 in the GNAC.
“That's the best game we played all season,” head coach
Mick Durham said. “We had motivation. We gave up 101 points and they beat us by 20 at home and I challenged them. Nobody in that building expected a close game.”
Trailing 67-65 with less than three minutes to go,
Richard Woodworth drained a three from the top of the key to give the Vikings its first lead since early in the second period. After teams failed to score on the next few possessions, WWU's
Paul Jones found himself wide open on the right wing and drained the triple to give Western a 71-67 advantage with 1:04 remaining.
“The last eight minutes, they felt the pressure so they really took us to the hole and were penetrating,” Durham said. “The dual penetration really killed us and that's where they were beating us, finding the open man and that's where those two threes came from.”
The Nanooks cut it back to two with 34 ticks on the clock with a jumper by senior
Nico Matthews (Twenty Nine Palms, Calif./College of the Desert), but the Vikings used six free throws down the stretch to escape with a five-point win.
Rory Blanche led five WWU players in double figures with a game-high 19 points and posted a double-double with 10 rebounds. Woodworth scored seven of his 15 points in the final three minutes, while
John Allen (13),
Zach Henefin (11) and Jones (11) also scored in double figures.
The Vikings shot just shy of 44-percent for the game and 38-percent from behind the arc with eight made treys in the contest. They held a nice-sized advantage on the boards, 38-28, and made six blocks, three coming from swats by Henifin. Western also did a nice job from the charity stripe, outscoring the Nanooks 19-7 from the line and only missing two free throw attempts.
Junior
Dominique Brinson (Juneau, Alaska/College of the Redwoods) led the way for the Nanooks with a team-high 17 points, while sophomore
Sergej Pucar (Belgrade, Serbia/Jacksonville) had 15 points. Matthews and sophomore
Stefan Tica (Belgrade, Serbia/Panola) also contributed with 12 and 11 points, respectively. In addition, Matthews dished out four assists and made a game-high five steals.
Alaska shot nearly 48-percent from the floor and outscored WWU 48-24 in the paint, but struggled from outside, making just five threes on 21 attempts. It also made it to the line just nine times, converting on seven attempts. The 'Nooks gave the ball away nine times, but forced the Vikings into 12 turnovers, seven coming by way of a steal.
The Nanooks return home next Thursday against Western Oregon, as they play their final three regular-season games at home inside the Patty Center.
