LANGLEY, BC -- The Western Washington University men's basketball team improved to 2-0 on the season with a 97-93 victory over St. Edward's Saturday morning to open the second day of the DII Canadian Tip-Off Classic at the Langley Events Centre.

Coming off a season-opening 83-72 win Friday night over Daemen, the Vikings overcame a short rest to defeat St. Edward's by six points to remain unbeaten on the season.

Junior guard Kai Johnson led the Vikings with 22 points, six rebounds and four assists and junior forward Nic Welp contributed a monster 18-point, 12-rebound double-double. Senior forward Jonathan Ned added 15 points and senior forward Isaac Morrow scored a career-high 16 points on 7-for-8 shooting. Western shot above 50-percent for the second consecutive game connecting at a .516 clip (33-for-64) and went 9-for-25 from beyond the arc and 22-for-31 from the free throw line.

SEU was led by a game-high 27 points by Sean Elkinton (8-for-12 FG, 9-for-10 FT) and 24 points by Blake Nielen (8-for-20 FG). 

The Vikings built a 58-42 lead at the half after leading by as many as 21 points in the first half. SEU stormed back in the second half taking the lead 90-89 with 2:49 remaining in the game, but the Vikings answered with an 8-1 run to close out the game.

WWU (2-0) closes out play in the DII Canadian Tip-Off Classic Sunday morning taking on Hawai'i Hilo at 10 am at the Langley Events Centre.