Box Score

Photo Gallery

BELLINGHAM, Wash, - Guard Ricardo Maxwell (Jr., Cincinnati, OH/Withrow) poured in 31 points and added five assists, but it wasn't enough as Western Washington University fell to conference-leading Western Oregon University on Saturday, Jan. 24, in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's basketball contest at Sam Carver Gymnasium on the WWU campus.

The Vikings fell to 10-9 overall and 3-6 in the GNAC with the defeat, which was the first in 10 home contests for WWU and snapped a 14-game home win streak that began last season.

Forward Andy Avgi led five WOU players in double figures with 21 points as the Wolves improved to 16-3 overall and stayed atop the GNAC at 8-1 with their sixth consecutive victory.

The Vikings held a four-point lead, 82-78, after Maxwell's steal and coast-to-coast layin with 2:32 to play. WOU scored the next five points, but Maxwell hit two free throws, giving WWU their final lead, 84-83, with 1:25 left.

But WOU guard Julian Nichols, who had 15 of his 18 points in the second half, hit a driving layin with 1:04 to go, putting the Wolves in front to stay at 85-84. Viking guard Jaamon Echols (Jr., Seattle/Rainier Beach) then missed a pull-up jumper from 14 feet with the shot clock running down, and Nichols hit five of six free throws in the final 24 seconds to preserve the WOU victory.

Echols finished with 14 points, Jeffrey Parker (So., Richmond, CA/Salesian) added 13, and Mac Johnson (Jr., Spokane/Gonzaga Prep) had 12 points and a game-high nine rebounds.

The Wolves held a 53-40 lead at halftime, but WWU used a 14-2 run early in the second half to tie the game at 61-61, eventually taking its first lead of the second half at 66-65 with 10:53 left on a 3-pointer by Parker.

Neither team had a lead of more than four points after that until the final 12 seconds.

WOU shot 56.4 percent (31-of-55) from the field, and was 21-of-23 (91.3) percent on free throws. The Vikings were 52.6 percent (30-of-57) from the floor, including 56.3 percent (9-of-16) on 3-pointers. WWU also overcame its season-long free-throw shooting woes, going 18-of-21 (85.7 percent).

The loss was just the second in the last 52 games at Carver Gym for the Vikings. The biggest margin in their six GNAC losses this season is seven points.

WWU completes its four-game home stand as it hosts Alaska Anchorage on Jan. 29 (7 p.m.) and Alaska Fairbanks on Jan. 31(7 p.m.) in GNAC counters.