BELLINGHAM, Wash – Former Western Washington University standout men's basketball player Deandre Dickson has signed his first professional contract to play for Žilina Basketball in the Slovak Basketball League.
 
Dickson starred for the Vikings from 2016-18, garnering Great Northwest Athletic Conference All-Star honors in both of his seasons at WWU. In 51 career games he averaged 14.1 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game. Dickson was named WWU's co-Male Athlete of the Year in 2017-18.
 
"We are very proud of all that Deandre has accomplished, both as a player, student-athlete and as a young man," said head coach Tony Dominguez. "He has tremendous character and was a huge part of our success during his two years in the program. This is a great opportunity for him to play overseas, carrying on a strong tradition of Vikings that have had the chance to play professionally. We look forward to following his success, on the court and in life."
 
As a senior in 2017-18, Dickson was named Second Team All-GNAC when he averaged 14.1 points, 6.8 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game. He started all 29 contests during the Vikings 21-8 season and ranked amongst GNAC leaders in scoring average (11^th), rebounding (8^th), field goal percentage (14^th, .506), free throw percentage (12^th, .809) and blocked shots (2^nd).
 
Dickson transferred to WWU beginning in 2016-17 after a standout junior college career at Bakersfield College.  
 
The Slovak Basketball League is scheduled to open the 2018-19 season in early October. Dickson will be traveling to Žilina in the coming days. Žilina is a city in northwestern Slovakia, roughly 125 miles from the capital Bratislava, close to both the Czech and Polish borders.
 
Prior to leaving for Slovakia, Dickson played in four games for the Bellingham Slam in the 2018 Crawsover Seattle Pro-Am Final League, averaging 21.0 points and 14.5 rebounds and 2.25 blocks per game.




About WWU Basketball:
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 1,479 victories and a .591 winning percentage in program history.