Box Score | Game Book

BELLINGHAM, Wash. - Western Washington University suffered its first Great Northwest Athletic Conference loss of the season falling 100-93 to a hot-shooting Montana State Billings squad Saturday afternoon at Whatcom Pavilion.

Playing less than 24 hours from the end of Friday's 103-98 victory at Simon Fraser, the Vikings drop to 9-3 overall and 3-1 in GNAC play. MSUB improves to 8-4 overall and 3-1 in league play.

After the game was tied 38-38 at the half, the Vikings built a 5-point lead midway through the second half at 58-53 with 11:01 remaining. From there the Yellowjackets caught fire to go on a 13-2 run to take a 66-60 lead and finished the game out-scoring the Vikings 47-35.

Overall MSUB shot 49.3% (33-for-67) from the floor, but were 14-for-28 (50.0%) from 3-point range and 20-for-22 (90.9%) from the free throw line. WWU shot 45.5% (35-for-77) from the field, well below the season mark of 51.1% entering the game.

"I thought we didn't perform our best today and played pretty tired from the quick turnaround from last night," said head coach Tony Dominguez. "Montana State Billings is playing with some momentum and shot the ball well. We are still adjusting to some new pieces with the team and will get back at it next week."

Senior guard Taylor Stafford (Chicago, IL/Evansville) led the Vikings with 27 points on 9-for-21 shooting (8-for-8 free throws) and added 4 steals and 3 assists. Redshirt freshman forward Daulton Hommes (Lynden, WA/Lynden Christian) contributed 20 points (7-for-12 shooting) and junior forward Deandre Dickson (Easton, CA/Bakersfield College) had 18 points, 6 rebounds and 3 steals off the bench. Senior forward Jeffrey Parker (Richmond, CA/Salesian) was 6-for-14 from the field for 12 points.

MSUB guard Marc Matthews led all players with 28 points on 10-for-17 shooting, connecting on 6-of-11 3-pointers. Jace Anderson (18 points, 5-for-9 3-pointers), Preston Beverly (15 points, 6-for-14 FG) and Kendall Denham (10 points) also reached double-figure scoring for the Yellowjackets.

The Vikings and Yellowjackets played an even first half with the game tied 38-38 going into halftime. The half featured 6 lead changes and 5 tie scores. MSUB had an 8-point advantage at 24-16 at the 10-minute mark, but WWU fought back to go on a 11-2 run to regain the lead. Kendall Denham connected on a 3-pointer for MSUB with 31-seconds remaining in the half to tie the game at 38-38. Dickson led the Vikings with 9 points, while Hommes and Parker each had 8 points.

The 'Jackets out-scored the Vikings 62-55 in the second half, shooting 57.6% (19-for-33) from the field. Matthews scored 18 of his 28 points in the second half, with four 3-pointers.

WWU remains at home with a pair of GNAC games next weekend at Whatcom Pavilion, hosting Alaska Fairbanks on Thursday (7 pm) and Alaska Anchorage on Saturday (7 pm).

Game Notes: The Vikings have used the same starting 5 (Hommes, Parker, Schilder, Stafford, Drechsel) for all 12 games this season...WWU was 17-for-20 from the free throw line...MSUB recorded its first win in Bellingham snapping a 12-game losing streak...WWU maintains the lead in all-time series 20-6...Jeffrey Parker scored 12 points and now has 1,577 career points to move into 6th place in the WWU record books passing WWU Athletics Hall of Famer Harold Doyal (1,571 points)...next up on the list is Manny Kimmie (1,624 points)...Taylor Stafford is averaging 28.0 points per game (196 points) over his last 7 games...in his first three games with WWU, Deandre Dickson is averaging 19.7 points and 6.7 rebounds per game.