AZUSA, Calif. – The Western Washington University men's basketball team dropped its first game of the 2022-23 season, falling to Azusa Pacific University 86-72 Saturday evening to conclude the PacWest/GNAC Challenge at the Felix Event Center.
A night after defeating Concordia Irvine 92-78 to improve to 3-0 on the season, the Vikings ran into a hot-shooting APU team that earned its third win of the season finishing the two-day tournament 2-0 with a pair of wins over GNAC teams (defeated SPU 77-70 Friday).
The Vikings trailed by as 29 points midway through the second half, but staged a big comeback out-scoring the Cougars 18-5 over the final six minutes of the game. WWU finished the contest on a 12-0 run in the 14-point defeat.
Sophomore guard
Kai Johnson led the Vikings with 14 points on 4-for-7 shooting and junior guard
D'Angelo Minnis contributed 10 points and five assists. Senior guard
Lucas Holden recorded a team-high seven rebounds. A total of 11 different players scored points for Western in the game.
APU (3-2) was led by 17 points and three steals by Ken West and 15 points by George Reidy.
The Vikings are set to make its home debut this week hosting Maine Fort Kent on Tuesday with tip-off scheduled for 7 pm on WECU Court in Carver Gym. The complete 2022-23 WWU men's basketball schedule can be viewed online at
wwuvikings.com/MBB.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Here is a look at the statistical comparison between WWU and Azusa Pacific:
| COMPARISON |
WWU |
APU |
| Points |
72 |
86 |
| Field Goal Pct. |
.436 (24-55) |
.452 (33-73) |
| 3 Point FG Pct. |
.231 (3-13) |
.400 (10-25) |
| Free Throw Pct. |
.750 (21-28) |
.588 (10-17) |
| Rebounds |
34 |
42 |
| Offensive Rebounds |
12 |
21 |
| Assists |
17 |
9 |
| Turnovers |
16 |
12 |
| Steals |
4 |
11 |
| Blocked Shots |
3 |
7 |
| Time Led |
1:48 |
37:38 |
| Points off Turnovers |
15 |
22 |
| Points in the Paint |
32 |
40 |
| Bench Points |
29 |
27 |
| Fouls |
19 |
24 |
| Biggest Lead |
3 |
29 |
| Lead Changes: 1 Times Tied: 1 |
NEXT UP
WWU opens the home portion of the schedule Tuesday (11/22) hosting Maine Fort Kent on WECU Court in Carver Gym. The complete 2022-23 WWU men's basketball schedule can be viewed online at
WWUVikings.com/22-23_MBB.
THE RECORD
Here is a look at the Vikings record breakdown for the 2022-23 season:
| RECORD BREAKDOWN |
| Overall |
3-1 |
| GNAC |
0-0 |
| Non-Conference |
3-1 |
| Home |
0-0 |
| Away |
0-1 |
| Neutral |
3-0 |
| vs. Ranked Teams |
0-0 |
| Leading at Half |
2-0 |
| Trailing at Half |
1-1 |
| Tied at Half |
0-0 |
| Overtime |
0-0 |
| BY UNIFORM |
| White |
2-0 |
| Black |
0-0 |
| Navy |
1-1 |
| Light Blue |
0-0 |
