Nov. 19, 2016 Box Score
BELLINGHAM, Wash. - Western Washington forward Jeffrey Parker scored a game-high 24 points and senior point guard Taylor Stafford recorded a double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Vikings to a 94-68 win over Holy Names Saturday afternoon in non-conference college basketball action at Whatcom Pavilion.
With the 26-point victory the Vikings improved to 3-0 on the season, bettering opponents by an average of 20 points per game. Holy Names falls to 0-3 on the season.
"It was a good day for us. We are young, and have pretty much a brand new team, so it is fun to watch them right now enjoying each other and how they are sharing the ball," said head coach Tony Dominguez.
All five of WWU's starters reached double-digits in scoring, led by Parker's (Richmond, CA/Salesian) 24 points. Through the first three games of the season Parker is averaging 23.0 points per game. With his 24-point performance, Parker moved into the top 10 in WWU history in career scoring with 1,444 points. He passed Mike Franza, who scored 1,436 points for the Vikings from 1969-73.
"It's going to be fun to watch Jeffrey all season long as he goes for the scoring record," said Dominguez. "He is someone that fans in Bellingham and the GNAC will want to come out and watch this season."
Stafford (Chicago, IL/West), a redshirt senior transfer from Evansville, recorded his first career double-double with 17 points, 11 rebounds (10 defensive) and also had 3 assists.
Also reaching double figures were redshirt freshman forward Daulton Hommes (Lynden, WA/Lynden Christian) who had 13 points, sophomore guard Trey Drechsel (Woodinville, WA/Cedar Park Christian) contributed 14 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists in 23 minutes and sophomore center Logan Schilder (Bellingham, WA/Whatcom Community College) recorded 10 points, 7 rebounds and 5 blocked shots.
After trailing in the very early minutes of the game, the Vikings raced past the Hawks in the first half building an 18-point lead at 48-30 going into halftime. WWU finished the half on a 16-8 run, fueled by consecutive three-pointers by Hommes, Brett Kingma and Parker to extend the lead to 19 points at 41-22.
Parker (15 points, 6-for-10 FG) and Hommes (13 points, 5-for-9 FG) scored in double-digits in the first half, while Stafford had 9 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists.
Western put the game away in the second half outscoring the Hawks 46-38, led by 12 points from Drechsel and 9 points from Parker.
Western returns to action next weekend hosting the Chuck Randall Classic Saturday (Nov. 26) and Sunday (Nov. 27) at Whatcom Pavilion. The Vikings will play Fresno Pacific at 3:15 pm on Saturday and Quest at 5:30 pm on Sunday. Alaska Fairbanks will also participate in the four-team tournament.
"We are looking forward to our tournament next weekend, honoring the late Chuck Randall who is a legend at Western Washington University," added Dominguez.
Game Notes: Parker now has 1,444 points in 93 career games (15.5 points per game), moving into 10th place in the WWU record books...next up on the list are Ira Graham (2004-05, 2006-09) and Jeff Dick (1990-94) with 1,465 career points to tie for 8th place in the record books...Parker leads WWU averaging 23.0 points through the first three games...Hommes (16.3 ppg), Stafford (15.3 ppg) and Drechsel (10.7 ppg) are all averaging double-digits in scoring...the Vikings are averaging 91.0 points per game and shooting 53.9% from the field (97-for-180).
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