Nov. 23, 2002

Box Score

DAVIS, Calif. - Three UC Davis players combined for 65 points as the host Aggies defeated Western Washington University, 89-74, Saturday in the final game of the UC Davis Hamilton Classic.

The loss puts the Vikings at 1-1 and snaps their 10-game winning streak, including the final nine contests of last season, which had been the longest current streak in NCAA Division II. Center Mike Palm (Sr., Puyallup/Rogers) led Western with 21 points and 11 rebounds.

UC Davis improved to 1-1. Justin Stearns came off the bench to pace the Aggies with 23 points, 18 of them in the second half. Stearns was 5-of-5 on 3-pointers. Dominic Callori and Ryan Moore each added 21 points, with Moore going 9-of-13 from the field.

The Vikings led in the early moments, but UC Davis ran off 15 straight points to take a 17-5 lead less than seven minutes into the game as Western committed four turnovers in eight possessions. The Vikings pulled to within six on three occasions, but trailed by eight, 39-31, at halftime.

Western was still only down by eight, 52-44, with 14 minutes left, but UC Davis went on a 15-2 run over the next three minutes to take a 67-46 lead and effectively put the game away. The Vikings got no closer than 15 points after that.

Forward Grant Dykstra (R-Fr., Everson/Lynden Christian) had 14 points for Western, which had a 37-32 edge in rebounds, but shot just 42.2 percent (27-of-64) from the field to 54.2 percent (32-of-59) for UC Davis. The Aggies shot 59.3 percent (16-of-27) from the field in the second half, including 54.5 percent (6-of-11) on 3-pointers.

Palm was the only Viking named to the all-tournament team. Also on the team were Stearns and Callori of UC Davis, Jacob Fahl of Southwest State, Minn., and Chris Wilmont of Dominican College CA.

The Vikings make their home debut Tuesday (7 p.m.), entertaining the University of Puget Sound.