Box Score | Game Book

NAMPA, Idaho - Led by double-doubles from Daulton Hommes and Jeffrey Parker, and a team-high 21 points from Taylor Stafford, the 20th-ranked Western Washington University men's basketball team recorded a convincing 83-59 road victory over Northwest Nazarene Saturday evening at the Johnson Sports Center.

With the win the Vikings improve to 21-5 overall and remain alone in first place in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference with a 15-3 mark. The 15th conference victory guarantees the Vikings a first-round bye in the six-team GNAC Tournament held March 2-4. The Crusaders fall to 12-12 overall and 9-9 in GNAC play with just their fourth home loss of the season.

"I thought we played really good team basketball tonight, with our defense on point and we executed our cuts and plays on offense," said head coach Tony Dominguez. "This league is really balance this year, and I just feel our guys are really dialed into doing whatever it takes to win, playing as hard as they possibly can. They have a great desire to be successful."

Parker (Sr., F, Richmond, CA/Salesian) tallied 13 points and 11 rebounds for his sixth career double-double (second this season). Parker's 13-point game (8 in the second half) also moved him into second place in WWU history with 1,789 career points, leaving him 55 points short of the all-time record of 1,844 points by Grant Dykstra (2002-06).

"I thought Jeffrey had a really nice game tonight, on both ends of the court, and proud of him for moving into 2nd place in our record books in scoring," added Dominguez on his senior forward. "Jeffrey has had a very emotional season with the loss of his mother, and through it all has remained a great teammate and really had a nice bounce back game tonight with the double-double."

Hommes (RS Fr., F, Lynden, WA/Lynden Christian) posted his second double-double of the season with 10 points and 11 rebounds.

Stafford (RS Sr., G, Chicago, IL/Evansville) recorded his 16th contest with 20 or more points, going 8-for-19 from the field (5-12 3-pointers) with his team-high 21 points. He scored 17 of his 21 points in the first half, lifting the Vikings to a 49-34 lead at the break.

Redshirt freshman Trevor Jasinsky (Camas, WA) added 13 points on 5-for-6 shooting (3-4 3-pointers) and junior forward Deandre Dickson (Easton, CA/Bakersfield College) had 12 points and 5 rebounds in 21 minutes off the bench.

The Crusaders were led by a game-high 27 points from Bouna N'Diaye and the league-leading 15th double-double of the season from Maurice Jones (16 points, 14 rebounds). Only four NNU players, all starters, scored points in the game.

WWU shot 49.2% (32-65) from the field and were 13-for-31 (41.9%) from 3-point range. The Vikings bench out-scored NNU's reserves 30-0 in the game.

Behind 17 points on 6-for-11 shooting by Stafford (5-8 3-pointers), the Vikings took a 49-34 lead into halftime. WWU pulled away from an early one-point lead at 12-11 going on a 17-5 run to turn the game into a 13-point advantage at 29-16. Stafford hit back-to-back 3-pointers to cap the run. Western extended the run to 30-11 building a 20-point lead at 42-22. The Crusaders ended the half going on a 9-7 run over the final 5 minutes of the half to cut the lead to 15 points at 49-34. Dickson added 10 points in 11 minutes off the bench for the Vikings, who shot 54.5% (18-for-33) overall and 52.9% (9-for-17) from 3-point range.

Western held NNU to 25 points in the second half while leading most of the half by 20 or more points. Parker and Jasinsky both had 8 points for the Vikings, while N'Diaye scored 12 of his 27 points.

The Vikings return home next week to close out the regular season hosting Seattle Pacific (12-14, 8-10 GNAC) on Wednesday and Saint Martin's (15-11, 9-9 GNAC) on Saturday. Both games will be played at Whatcom Pavilion on the Whatcom Community College campus with a tip-off of 7 pm. Saturday's game will be part of a WWU Senior Night Doubleheader with the women's team hosting Alaska at 3 pm. Seniors Jeffrey Parker and Taylor Stafford will be honored prior to the game vs. SMU.

"It sounds cliché, but we are really only looking at the next game, as we have two tough games at home to end the regular season," added Dominguez. "Clinching the first-round bye is always nice, but we've done a good job of focusing one game at a time and we'll continue to prepare for what is right in front of us."

Game Notes: WWU is 12-2 over last 14 games...finished the GNAC road schedule with an 8-2 record, with only two losses coming on the Alaskan road trip...Taylor Stafford has scored in double-digits in 25 of 26 games and has 20+ points in 16 contests (averaging 22.2 points/game)...WWU entered the week ranked No. 20 (NABC) and No. 4 in the NCAA II West Region...WWU improved to 4-1 this season when wearing its "Caroline Blue" jersey...WWU attempted a season-high 31 3-pointers, most since 36 attempts 2/4/16 vs. Alaska Anchorage (2 OT)...the defense has held opposing teams to a sub 40.0% field goal percentage in three consecutive games, the first time to accomplish this since Nov. 25-Dec. 2, 2014 (non-conference).

-- @WWUHoops --