BELLINGHAM, Wash. – Led by a balanced offensive attack and a dominating rebounding performance, the Western Washington University men's basketball team defeated Columbia Bible College 117-72 in non-conference action Saturday night on WECU Court in Carver Gym.

Six Vikings scored in double-figures, led by a career-high 17 points from freshman forward Jalen Green (Renton, WA/Lindbergh). Green connected on 7 of his 13 shots, including going 3-for-4 from 3-point range. Junior forward Trevor Jasinsky (Camas, WA) filled up the stat sheet for his first career double-double with 14 points, 12 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 blocked shots.

WWU improved to 7-2 overall with the 45-point victory over the Canadian college from Abbotsford, British Columbia.

The Vikings shot 48.4% from the field for the game (46-for-95) and were 14-for-34 from 3-point range. WWU held a 55-39 advantage in rebounds (20-10 offensive rebounds) and recorded a season-high-tying 8 blocked shots. 

Braxton Latt led the Bearcats with 18 points on 7-for-19 shooting, with Gabe Mannes (14 points), Ykealo Araia (13 points) and Trent Baker (10 points) also reaching double-digits in scoring. The game did not count towards Columbia Bible College's season record.

WWU recorded a season-high 55 rebounds to hold a 55-39 advantage in boards for the game. The Vikings are now averaging a GNAC-best 41.9 rebounds per game this season, led by 7.0 rebounds per game from Trevor Jasinsky (had career-high 12 boards vs. CBC). KJ Bosco (Portland, OR/Benson/Portland CC) had 8 rebounds in 18 minutes of action.

All 12 players that suited up for the Vikings scored in the contest, with six players recording double-digits. In addition to Green (17 points) and Jasinsky (14 points), Tucker Eenigenburg (15 points), Micah Winn (13 points), Luke Lovelady (13 points) and Elijah Cotton-Welch (11 points) also reached double figures in scoring. The 117 points marks the third time this season WWU has passed the 100-point mark in a game.

Three Vikings were at or above 20.0 in the basketball efficiency rating that is defined by (Points+Rebounds+Assists+Steals+Blocks) – (FG att-FG made)+(FT  att-FT made) + turnovers…Trevor Jasinsky led the way with a 24.0 efficiency rating, followed by 21.0 from Jalen Green and 20.0 by Luke Lovelady.

WWU continues to lead the GNAC with a 1.8 assist-to-turnover ratio, committing only 4 turnovers with 25 assists Saturday night vs. CBC. Saint Martin's is 2nd in the conference with a 1.4 assist-to-turnover ratio.

The Vikings held a 25-point halftime lead at 62-38, with Jalen Green and Tucker Eenigenburg each scoring 10 points to lead WWU. Overall the Vikings shot 51.1% from the field (24-for-47) and were 8-for-22 (36.4%) from 3-point range. Western doubled up the Bearcats on the boards with a 32-16 advantage in rebounds and recorded 5 blocked shots.

The Vikings went on a 17-4 run starting at the 13:04 mark, turning a five-point game at 23-18 into a 18-point lead at 40-22. During the 5-minute stretch, the WWU was 6-for-11 from the field and had seven players score points. The Vikings finished the half out-scoring the Bearcats 23-14 over the final 6:53 to secure a 63-58 halftime lead.

The game featured three players that all played together at Portland's Benson Polytechnic High School…WWU's KJ Bosco and Cameron Retherford, and CBC's Braxton Latt all graduated from Benson in 2014 and were teammates throughout their prep career.

WWU will compete in the prestigious Hoops in Hawai'i DII Power Invitational Dec. 16-18 at the Hawai'i Convention Center in Honolulu, HI. The Vikings will take on Chaminade in the opening game of the round-robin format on Dec. 16 at 5:45 pm HT/7:45 pm PT (2-hour time difference) and the  second game will be on Monday, Dec. 17 vs. either Southern Nazarene or Dallas Baptist at 1:15 pm HT/3:15 pm PT (losers bracket) or 3:30 pm HT/5:30 pm PT (winners bracket). The full tournament bracket, participating teams and links to the live webcast for each game can be found online at scoringlive.com/hoopsinhawaii. Western's next GNAC games are in the new year, hosting Seattle Pacific (Jan. 3) and Saint Martin's (Jan. 5) on WECU Court in Carver Gym.

WWU will serve as the host for the 2019 GNAC Championships, with the top six teams in both the men's and women's conference standings at the end of the season qualifying for the tournament that will be held March 7-9 on WECU Court in Carver Gym. 

If you can't make it to Carver Gym to watch the home games in person, you can tune in to VikingsTV to catch all the action…all GNAC matches, home and road, will stream live and feature live stats at GNAC.tv, with home games also streamed live on YouTube…in addition to being available online, all conference matches are available via the GNAC channel on Roku, Apple TV, Android TV and Amazon Fire TV…live links can be accessed through WWUVikings.com/Live.

Fans can follow the men's basketball team online at WWUVikings.com/MBB, and via social media on Twitter (@WWUHoops) and Facebook (@WWUmensbball).

One of the premier basketball programs in NCAA Division II, WWU has recorded a 20-win season in eight of the last 10 seasons. WWU is a six-time Great Northwest Athletic Conference champion and has appeared in the NCAA II Elite 8 three times. The Vikings won the 2011-12 NCAA Division II National Championship and advanced the following season to the NCAA II Final Four. Western has posted back-to-back 20-win seasons, including a 25-6 record in 2016-17 where it won the GNAC regular season and conference championships title, and advanced to the NCAA Division II Championships as the No. 3 seed in the West Region. The program recently completed its 116^th season posting a 21-8 record in 2017-18, and have combined for 1,485 victories and a .591 winning percentage in program history.

-- @WWUHoops --