Box Score

BELLINGHAM, Wash. - Western Oregon University used a big run to start the second half to break the game open and went on to defeat Western Washington University, 78-58, in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's basketball contest Saturday at Whatcom Pavilion.

Senior guard Ricardo Maxwell (Cincinnati, OH/Withrow/Edmonds CC) had a team-high 17 points for the Vikings, who fall to 10-7 overall, 4-4 in the GNAC. Western Oregon, ranked 11th nationally in NCAA Division II, improve to 13-3 and 7-1.

Leading by one at halftime, WOU opened the second half with a 20-4 run in first 6:13 that included 4-of-5 3-point shooting. The Vikings rallied to within nine, 58-49, on a Maxwell layup with 8:35 remaining, but never got that close again as the Wolves scored the next 10 points to pull away.

Redshirt freshman forward Trey Drechsel (Woodinville, WA/Cedar Park Christian) added 16 points and a game-high 8 rebounds for WWU, but the Vikings shot just 40.4 percent (21-of-52) from the field, including 32.1 percent (9-of-28) in the second half.

Senior center Andy Avgi, the reigning GNAC Player of the Year, led Western Oregon with 19 points. Alex Roth, a transfer from Oregon State, added 18 points off the bench on 7-of-10 field goal shooting.

WOU jumped to a 10-1 lead to open the game, but behind the 13 first-half points of Maxwell, the Vikings rallied to trail only 34-33 at halftime.

The Vikings (10-7, 4-4 GNAC) begin a three-game road trip with games next week at Northwest Nazarene (Thursday, 7 pm MT/6 pm PT) and at Central Washington (Friday, 6 pm). The game vs. CWS will be televised by ROOT SPORTS.