Box Score

HAYWARD, Calif. - Redshirt freshman Daulton Hommes scored 29 points on 11-for-13 shooting in his collegiate debut to lead the Western Washington Vikings to a season-opening 72-64 victory over Sonoma State Friday evening in the Veterans Day Pioneer Challenge.

Western used a strong second half to overcome an 8-point halftime deficit to open the season 1-0. The Vikings trailed 33-25 at the half, bolstered by an 18-0 Sonoma State run, but out-scored the Seawolves 47-31 in the second half to pull away with the 8-point victory.

"It was the first game of the year after coming out pretty hot, we got tight and fell behind," said head coach Tony Dominguez. "We regrouped at halftime, settled in and made the extra pass, and played the way we are capable of."

Hommes (Lynden, WA/Lynden Christian) hit 11 of his 13 attempts from the field, while connecting on 5 of 6 three-pointers. He scored 25 of his 29 points in the second half (9-for-11 FG), including a string of three consecutive three-pointers early in the second half. The 29 points are the third-most by a freshman in recorded program history.

The Vikings held an 8-point lead at 23-15 with 7:48 left in the first half, but Sonoma went on an 18-0 run to take a 33-23 lead. Western broke a scoring drought of over 7 minutes when senior point guard Taylor Stafford drove the court for a last-second layup before the buzzer to cut the SSU halftime lead to 33-25. Junior guard Brett Kingma (Mill Creek, WA/Jackson/Oregon) led WWU with 8 first-half points (3-for-4 FG, 2-for-3 3-pointers) and Stafford had 7 points.

SSU scored on the first possession of the second half to take a 10-point lead, but from that point on it was all Vikings. WWU went on a 10-3 run, with Hommes scoring 9 of the points, to cut the lead to 38-35 and then grabbed the lead for good at 43-41 on a Jeffrey Parker three-pointer with 12:47 remaining.

Parker (Sr., F, Richmond, CA/Salesian) finished with 13 points on 5-for-15 shooting and Stafford (Chicago, IL/Evansville) made his WWU debut with 11 points and 6 assists.

The Vikings shot 57.7% from the field (15-for-26) in the second half, compared to the first-half mark of 37.0% (10-for-27).

Jimmy Golden led Sonoma State with 21 points on 7-for-10 shooting.

WWU returns to action tomorrow facing tournament host Cal State East Bay at 7:30 pm. Fans will be able to follow the action via webcast and LiveStats online at EastBayPioneers.com.

Game Notes: The 29 points by Hommes trail only 31 points by Jeff Dick (2/2/91 at CWU) and Rick Wills (11/29/80) for most points by a freshman in program history dating back to at least 1978...Parker now has 1,388 points in 91 career games, remaining 11th on the all-time WWU scoring list (Mike Franza is 10th with 1,436 points)...WWU is now 5-0 in season openers under head coach Tony Dominguez and won 9 consecutive season-opening games.

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