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BELLINGHAM, Wash. -- Western Washington University seniors Taylor Stafford and Jeffrey Parker combined for 56 points to lead the 17th-ranked Vikings to a 100-89 victory over rival Central Washington Saturday night in Great Northwest Athletic Conference action at a sold-out Whatcom Pavilion.

The Vikings (15-3, 9-1 GNAC) won their sixth consecutive game to finish the first half of GNAC play in first place. Central Washington falls to 12-4 overall and remains in second place in the conference with a 7-3 mark.

Western held a 46-44 halftime lead, and pulled away from the Wildcats after an 80-80 tie with a 20-9 run over the final 5 minutes of the game.

"It is fun to watch us play so well together. We had a lot of good performances out there tonight against a very good team," said head coach Tony Dominguez. "I thought we played pretty good defense even though they scored a lot of points. We defended the things we needed to defend."

Stafford (Chicago, IL/Evansville) finished with a team-high 29 points on 10-for-22 shooting, going 3-for-7 from 3-point range and a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line. Parker (Richmond, CA/Salesian) was 9-for-15 from the field and 5-for-9 from beyond the arc for his 38th career game with 20 or more points.

"Taylor plays so smooth and calm out there...he's a dream to coach," added Dominguez. "His confidence and poise really carries us out on the court."

Sophomore center Logan Schilder (Bellingham, WA/Whatcom CC) had a career-high 16 points going 7-for-8 from the field, scoring 10 of his points in the decisive second half. Redshirt freshman Trevor Jasinsky (Camas, WA) added 10 points and 5 rebounds off the bench.

"Logan had his best game of the year," said Dominguez on his 7-footer. "He didn't get rattled or frustrated out there, and had some big points in the second half. He just went after it and made moves we haven't seen from him before. Really proud of him."

The Wildcats received a game-high 30 points from GNAC leading scorer Dom Hunter, who was 12-for-22 from the field (3-7 3-ptr). Jawan Stepney added 23 points on 9-for-18 shooting.

The game featured 17 lead changes and 8 tie scores, with 10 of those lead changes in the back-and-forth second half. The game was tied 80-80 with a little over 5 minutes remaining in the game, before Parker hit a 3-pointer to give the Vikings an 83-80 lead, one they would not relinquish. The Vikings closed out the game on a 20-9 run to secure the victory.

Stafford scored 17 of his 29 points in the second half, while Parker added 12 points. Western shot 55.2% from the field in the second half (16-for-29) and overall was 34-for-59 (57.6%) from the field. The Vikings continued their solid shooting from the free throw line as well, hitting 22-of-24 shots from the charity stripe.

The Vikings held a 2-point lead at the half 46-44 in a back-and-forth opening stanza. Central grabbed an early 16-13 lead before the Vikings went on a 10-2 run to go ahead 23-18. WWU extended its lead to as many as 8 points at 43-35, but Central came right back going on a 9-3 run to end the half and pull to within 2 points on a Hunter layup in the final seconds of the half.

Parker led the Vikings with 15 points on 6-for-8 shooting from the field, going 3-for-4 from beyond the arc. Stafford added 12 points on 4-for-7 shooting. WWU shot a blistering 60.0% (18-for-30) and was 6-for-9 from 3-point range. Hunter led the Wildcats with 15 points (6-for-11 FG) and Niles was 5-for-5 from the field for 11 points.

The Vikings will have a quick turnaround hosting Simon Fraser (2-16, 0-10 GNAC) Tuesday at 7 pm at Whatcom Pavilion and then traveling to Montana State Billings for a Thursday game to open the second half of the conference schedule.

Game Notes: Jeffrey Parker moved into 13th place in the GNAC career record books with 1,691 points (4th in WWU history)...Taylor Stafford recorded his 9th game with 20+ points this season...Parker averaged 29.5 points per game (59 points) in the two games last week vs. Northwest Nazarene and CWU (20-for-33 FG/60.6%, 11-for-16/68.8% 3-Point)...Stafford averaged 24.0 points/game during the week and is averaging 25.1 points/game (326 points) over his last 13 games (since Dec. 1)...Daulton Hommes led the Vikings with 7 rebounds vs. CWU and leads the team averaging 6.2 rebounds/game for the season...WWU continues to pace the GNAC in scoring offense (90.7 points/game), free throw percentage (79.4%/328-413), field goal percentage (50.6%/565-1117) and 3-point field goal percentage (42.0%/174-414)...WWU scored 100 points for the sixth time this season and scored 100+ points in back-to-back games for the first time since the 2014-15 season (Quest & Simon Fraser)...first time to reach 100+ points in consecutive conference games since the 2009-10 season (1/28/10 vs. Western Oregon & 1/30/10 at Montana State Billings)...six 100-point games are the most since also recording six in the 2012-12 season...the Vikings and Wildcats will have a rematch in Ellensburg on February 16 in a game televised on ROOT Sports (8 pm tip-off).