Jan. 3, 2009

Box Score

BELLINGHAM, Wash. - Western Washington University held Multnomah University to just two points over the first 12 minutes and rolled to a 125-54 victory in a non-conference men's basketball game Saturday afternoon on Haggen Court at Sam Carver Gymnasium.

The Vikings, who snapped a two-game losing streak, improved to 7-2. Forward Steve Alford (Sr., Bakersfield, CA) came off the bench to score a career-high 24 points for Western, going 9-of-10 from the field, and also had a game-high 10 rebounds. He was 4-of-5 on 3-pointers, all in the first half.

The contest was an exhibition game for Multnomah, located in Portland, Ore. The Lions, who are 4-11 in counting games, were led by the 16 points of forward Tyler Yates. Forward Nicholaas Kamlade had 11 points and five assists.

Western led 45-2 just over 13 minutes into the game. Multnomah missed 23 of its first 24 shots, getting its only field goal of that stretch when Kamlade made a layin off a drive from the left baseline 3:16 into the game.

The Vikings, who held a 65-14 lead at halftime, shot 58.3 percent (49-of-84) from the field and had a 76-24 advantage in rebounds.

Six Western players scored in double figures. Guard Ira Graham (Sr., Fontana, CA) had 21 points, 16 of them in the first seven minutes. Forward Calin Schell (Sr., Chelan) had 17 points, forward Rory Blanche (R-Fr., Ashland, OR) 15, center David Brittinen (Sr., Hoquiam) 12 on 6-of-6 field-goal shooting, and guard Cameron Severson (Fr., Petersburg, AK) 11.

Guard Morris Anderson (Jr., Federal Way) contributed five points, seven rebounds, seven assists and two steals to the Vikings' cause.

The contest was the first of three consecutive home games for Western, which opens Great Northwest Athletic Conference action Thursday (7 p.m.) against Montana State University Billings.

Vikings return home with big win

SOMER BREEZE - THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

The Western Washington University men's basketball team was in need of a little pick-me-up.

After starting the season 6-0, the Vikings hit the road and a two-game skid before taking a two-week winter break. Western found its confidence booster against Multnomah University on Saturday, Jan. 3, in its first home game since Nov. 29.

Six Vikings scored in double figures as Western cruised to a 125-54 nonconference win on Haggen Court.

"It's nice to be able to get out on the court again," Vikings coach Brad Jackson said. "Obviously playing an opponent that's a little overmatched, but they gave us a good opportunity to play deep into our bench and I think that's helpful."

Western (7-2) went deep into its bench and then emptied it. Starting senior guard Ira Graham had 16 points in the first nine minutes of play when he was subbed out. He didn't re-enter the game until the start of the second half when the Vikings led 65-14.

But Graham wasn't the only one putting up points. Off the bench, senior guard Steve Alford had 12 point in the first half on 4 of 5 shooting from the 3-point arc. Alford finished with a game-high 24 points while Graham had 21.

"That's one of the things that's going to be key to our success, is how well we move the ball and how well we play as a unit," Graham said. "Hopefully we keep that up headed into conference."

The Vikings open Great Northern Athletic Conference play at home on Thursday, Jan. 8, against Montana State Billings at 7 p.m. With only about a week of practice since its break, Western's win on Friday was just what was needed to prepare for the opener.

"I wanted to have this game to get back in the rhythm of things," Graham said. "This game right here kind of gets you back in a rhythm and we actually get to play a game. Now we're really looking forward to getting to conference and doing some really good things."

The Vikings are already doing a lot of good things, including in their game against Multomah (4-12). They matched their season-high of 125 points (Western defeated Walla Walla 125-69 on Nov. 24), they held their opponent to a season-low 54 points (previously 64 against Mary, N.D.), every player on the bench scored, the Vikings out-rebounded the Lions 76-24, and they recorded 25 assists as a team.

Not bad for not playing a game since Dec. 19, in a 73-60 loss to Cal Poly Pomona.

"It's exactly what we needed," Graham said. "This game we wanted to come out and not so much worry about our level of talent we were playing against but we were focusing on what we were trying to do. That was just come out and play a nice solid game."

After being held to just two points for 14 minutes, the Lions scored 12 more before the break. But after halftime Multnomah tried to be competitive from the 3-point arc, and hit nine 3s.

"The second half was pretty hard not to drop off a little bit, but I wasn't real pleased with how we defended the 3s in the second half," Jackson said.

Tyler Yates led the Lions with 16 points. Multnomah shot 24.7 percent from the floor while the Vikings were 58.3 percent.

Calin Schell added 17 points for the Vikings, while Rory Blanche had 15 and David Brittinen had 12. Cameron Severson rounded out the double figure scoring with 11.

Alford also had 10 rebounds along with his 24 points for a double-double and Morris Anderson had seven assists, all in the first half.