Nov. 21, 2011

Box Score

BELLINGHAM, Wash. - Guard John Allen (Jr., Brier/Mountlake Terrace) scored a game-high 26 points and forward Rory Blanche (Sr., Ashland, OR) added 24 points and a game-high 10 rebounds as Western Washington University broke open a tight contest in the last eight minutes and defeated nationally ranked Brigham Young University Hawaii, 88-69, in a non-conference men's basketball game Monday at Sam Carver Gymnasium on the WWU campus.

WWU, which shot 53.3 percent (32-of-60) from the field, improved to 6-1 with its fourth consecutive victory.

BYUH, ranked No.3 in the National Association of Basketball Coaches/NCAA Division II Preseason Top 25, fell to 0-4. The Seasiders, who reached the national championship game last year, got 16 points each from center Brady Hurst and guard Tsung-Hsien "Jet" Chang. Guard Oksesene Ale added 15 points and five assists.

The Vikings led by just two, 64-62, with 8:30 left, but scored the next eight points, five by Allen, to open up a 72-62 advantage with 6:18 to play. The Seasiders got as close as seven points after that, but WWU pulled away in the closing stages, holding BYUH without a field goal after a Chang putback with 3:36 to go.

WWU led by as much as 13 points in the first half, but BYUH used a run of nine straight points that closed the gap to 37-33 with 3:55 left in the period and trailed by only five, 44-39, at halftime.

Guard Richard Woodworth (So., Bellevue/Newport) had 11 points for WWU. The Vikings shot 42.9 percent (9-of-21) on 3-pointers to just 18.8 percent (3-of-16) for the Seasiders, and also had a 42-33 advantage in rebounds.

Blanche was 10-of-13 from the floor. Allen was 8-of-13, including 4-of-6 on 3-pointers.

WWU completes its five-game homestand Saturday (7 p.m.), entertaining Northwest University.

WWU MEN'S BASKETBALL: Allen leads Vikings past nationally-ranked BYU-Hawaii

ANDREW LANG / THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

BELLINGHAM - Last year Western Washington University men's basketball guard John Allen was called upon to handle the majority of the Vikings' backcourt duties.

Now with a healthy Rico Wilkins and a more seasoned Richard Woodworth, Allen displayed Monday, Nov. 21, just how potent his game can be with a little assistance as the Vikings knocked off No.3-ranked Brigham Young University-Hawaii 88-69 at Carver Gym.

"That's one of the things coach and everyone was really excited about," said Allen, who led all scorers with a game-high 26 points. "With Rico and Richard, it helps me out a lot. It makes the game a lot easier for me, and we can swing the ball around a lot faster."

While Allen's presence held the Vikings together when WWU (6-1) needed to brave scoring runs by BYU-Hawaii (0-4), Western forward Rory Blanche played brilliantly in the post and provided the Vikings with key rebounds throughout the game.

Blanche finished with 24 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.

"I like the way we came out tonight," Western coach Brad Jackson said. "We played with a lot of assertiveness. They are a national level team and have some really good players and are well coached. It's early in the season, but I learned tonight that we have the capability to play well in big games."

Despite owning a 0-3 record entering Monday's matchup with Western, the nationally-ranked Seasiders have been on the road for a while and just finished a brutal three-game stretch against Brigham Young University, Seattle Pacific University and Central Washington University.

After trailing early, WWU established a comfortable 22-14 advantage at the 11:45-minute mark in the first half on a 3-pointer from Allen.

Five minutes later, Western forward Dan Young handed the Vikings its biggest lead of the first half, connecting on jumper to push the Vikings' lead to 37-24, but BYU-Hawaii came storming back.

The Seasiders went on an 11-2 run, highlighted by BYU-Hawaii's Tsung-Hsien Chang's eight points that cut Western's lead to just 39-35. After the run, Western took a 44-39 lead into halftime.

All night the Vikings impressed on the defensive end. Western limited BYU-Hawaii to a 40.3 percent shooting night, while the Vikings shot 53.3 percent from the floor.

"To hold them to 40 percent shooting speaks well to our defense tonight," Jackson said. "We turned our intensity up on the defensive end tonight and did a good job of defending their shooters."

BYU-Hawaii took its first lead since the 14:18 mark in the first half on a Zach Ngawaka layup with 13:47 to go in the second half to give the Seasiders a 54-52 lead, but the Allen-led Vikings rallied to gain back a sizeable advantage.

With a 62-60 lead with 9:25 to go, Western ended the game with a 26-9 run. Allen, Blanche and Zach Henifin all chipped in with key points down the stretch.

"This win is huge, especially heading into league (play) soon," Allen said. "This shows that we can beat one of the better teams in our conference. To get a win over a quality opponent like this is big for us."

Woodworth reached double digits in scoring with 11 points. Western guard Paul Jones came of the bench to score six points and grab nine boards. Henifin scored eight for the Vikings.