March 4, 2017 Box Score | Game Book 
| Postgame Interview (Parker, Hommes, Dominguez)
LACEY, Wash. - In a game that featured several notable performances, it was senior forward Jeffrey Parker that stole the show setting the all-time Western Washington men's basketball career scoring record in a 91-79 WWU victory over Saint Martin's Friday night in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships semifinal in front of 3,033 fans at Marcus Pavilion.
The 12-point victory moves the No. 1-seed Vikings (24-5) into the GNAC Tournament championship game facing Western Oregon tomorrow night at 7:30 pm. WOU beat Alaska Anchorage 91-84 in triple overtime to advance to the championship final. WWU extended its winning streak to seven consecutive wins, and has won 15 of its last 17 games.
The GNAC Championship finals will be an all-Western affair with the women's team playing Alaska Anchorage at 5:15 pm, followed by the men's game at 7:30 pm. The winner of both championship games will ern the conference's automatic qualifier to the NCAA Division II Tournament.
Parker (Richmond, CA/Salesian) scored 23 points on 7-for-14 shooting, moving into the No. 1 spot in the WWU record books with 1,847 career points. His layup with 15:23 remaining in the second half moved him past Viking great Grant Dykstra, who scored 1,844 points during his career from 2002-06.
GNAC Player of the Year Taylor Stafford (Chicago, IL/Evansville) scored a team-high 31 points on 7-for-19 shooting for his seventh 30-point game of the season. The senior converted 15 of 16 free throws, including going 12-for-13 in the second half to secure the victory. His 31-point move his season total to 649 points (22.4 points/game), setting the all-time single-season record in WWU history passing the 640 points by Mike Franza in 1972-72.
Redshirt freshman Daulton Hommes (Lynden, WA/Lynden Christian) notched his third double-double of the season, with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Hommes scored 15 of his 20 points in the second half, with a key stretch accounting for 12 of WWU's 16 points over a five-minute stretch late in the second half.
Junior forward Deandre Dickson (Easton, CA/Bakersfield College) added 9 points in 20 minutes off the bench.
Saint Martin's senior guard Tyler Copp led all scorers with 36 points on 13-for-21 from the field. The effort goes into the record books as the best single-game performance in GNAC Tournament history, surpassing the 34 points by Seattle Pacific's Cory Hutsen in 2015. Cole Preston finished with 17 points while Brandon Kenilvort added 10.
The Vikings dominated the glass out-rebounding the Saints 43-23, with a 17-4 advantage in offensive rebounds. The decisive rebounding advantage led to 26 second-chance points for Western. WWU shot 46.0% (29-for-63) from the field and were 7-for-21 from 3-point range (33.3%). SMU shot 51.8% for the game (29-for-56), but were limited to 31.6% (6-for-19) from 3-point range.
The Vikings jumped out an early 8-0 lead, but the Saints stormed back going on a 14-3 run to take a 14-11 lead. SMU led by as many as 4 points, last at 24-20, before the Vikings went on a 19-8 run to end the half. Parker's 3-pointer with 33 seconds left lifted WWU to a 7-point lead at 39-32 heading into halftime. Parker (14 points) and Stafford (11 points) combined for 25 of WWU's 39 first-half points.
Western grew its lead to 12 points at 62-50 with 9:34 remaining, but the Saints fought back going on an extended 18-9 run to climb to within three points on Kenilvort's lay-in with 4:29 to go to make it a 71-68 game. Western Washington put it away from that point, outscoring SMU 17-9 down the stretch to close it out. Stafford (20 points) and Hommes (15 points) led the Vikings, who shot 56.0% (14-for-25) from the field in the second half.
Next Up: The Vikings will play Western Oregon for the GNAC Tournament Championship at 7:30 pm Saturday night in Lacey, Wash. (Marcus Pavilion)...the winner will receive the GNAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Tournament...the Wolves won last year's GNAC regular-season and tournament championships.
Game Notes: The Vikings will be going for their first GNAC Tournament Championship since the start of the tournament in 2010-11...played in the championship final three consecutive seasons 2013-15...WWU has won 7 consecutive games and 15 of its last 17 games overall...WWU earned the No. 1 seed in the GNAC Championships by going 17-3 in league play during the regular season...WWU entered the game ranked No. 15 in the NABC Coaches Division II top 25 and No. 20 in the D2SIDA media poll...listed No. 2 in the latest NCAA II West Region rankings behind California Baptist, who was defeated by Point Loma Friday night in the PacWest Tournament...Taylor Stafford recorded his seventh 30-point game of the season, second-most in a single-season in WWU history (9, Mike Franza, 1972-72) and tied for second-most in a career with Jeffrey Parker (2013-17) and John Allen (2010-13)...Stafford's 649 points are the most in a single-season in WWU history and his 22.4 points/game are 2nd-best in WWU history (Franza, 1972-73, 25.6 ppg)...Parker is now 8th in GNAC history with 1,847 points, 8 points from No. 7 Andy Avgi (WOU, 1,855 points).
WWU CAREER LEADERS |
Rk | Player | Points | Avg. |
1. | Jeffrey Parker (2013-current) | 1,847 | 15.5 |
2. | Grant Dykstra (2002-06) | 1,844 | 16.3 |
3. | Ryan Diggs (2002-06) | 1,783 | 16.4 |
4. | Jared Stevenson (1996-2000) | 1,728 | 16.3 |
5. | Mike Palm (1999-2003) | 1,649 | 14.9 |
WWU 3-Pointers Made (Career) | 3 FG |
1. | Jared Stevenson (1996-2000) | 279 |
2. | Jeffrey Parker (2013-current) | 273 |
3. | Grant Dykstra (2001-06) | 266 |
4. | Jeff Dick (1990-94) | 234 |
5. | John Allen (2010-13) | 198 |
