BELLINGHAM, Wash. – The Western Washington University men's basketball suffered a season-ending 79-70 defeat against Concordia University Saturday night in front of a Senior Night crowd of 924 on WECU Court in Carver Gym.

With Western Oregon beating Simon Fraser 68-56 Saturday night, the scenario was pretty straightforward. A WWU victory over the Cavaliers would advance the Vikings to the upcoming GNAC Championships that will be held next week in Carver Gym. But the Vikings couldn't overcome a late first-half and early second-half run by the Cavaliers in the 9-point defeat.

WWU officially finishes in a three-way tie for 6^th place in the conference at 9-11 in GNAC play and 15-15 overall. Conference tiebreaker criteria broke the three-way tie between Simon Fraser, Alaska Anchorage and WWU, with the final criteria being the best record by WWU and SFU against teams with a .500 or better record in league play. WWU was 2-8 and SFU was 3-7.

The Vikings trailed by as many as 11 points midway through the second half at 58-47, but battled back to a one-point deficit at 63-64 by going on a 16-6 run. Junior guard Micah Winn fueled the run with 14 points. Senior guard Tyler Payne missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with the opportunity to tie the game, and the Cavaliers answered with a game-clinching 9-1 run to pull back ahead by a nine-point margin at 73-64 with 2:11 remaining.

Winn came off the bench to lead the Vikings in scoring with 14 points on 6-for-14 shooting. Junior forwards Trevor Jasinsky and Cameron Retherford each had 13 points. Junior guard Leif Anderson chipped in 11 points, going 3-for-5 from 3-point range. 

The Vikings shot 38.2% for the game (26-for-68), including a 44.4% clip in the second half, but Concordia was a touch better at 47.2% (25-for-53) for the game. The Cavaliers also won the battle of the boards 39-35, despite WWU holding a 12-6 advantage in offensive rebounds. 

The Cavaliers had four players reach double-figures in scoring, led by 17 points and 5 rebounds by Hunter Sweet. Dakota Ayala came off the bench to contribute a 13-point, 11-rebound double-double and Jarrett Gray added 13 points on 4-for-10 shooting. Concordia finished its season with a road sweep of Simon Fraser and WWU, ending the season at 11-17 overall and 6-14 in GNAC play.

Trevor Jasinsky capped a stellar junior season averaging 19.1 points per game (574 points), the 10^th-best single-season scoring average in program history. Jasinsky also moved into 10^th place in the WWU record book with 143 career 3-pointers and is 21^st with 1,075 points. He scored in double-digits in 28 of 30 games in 2018-19, including a GNAC-best 16 games with 20-or-more points. The iron man has played in all 90 possible games of his WWU career and will lead the league averaging 35.5 minutes per game.

Here is a look at the final GNAC standings following the conclusion of Saturday's games:

Here are the scores from the five additional GNAC games played across the conference footprint on Saturday, with the road team winning all five games:

WWU will serve as the host for the 2019 GNAC Basketball 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. Tickets are now on sale for the GNAC Basketball Championships via GNACHoopTickets.com.

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 1,494 victories and a .590 winning percentage in program history.