BELLINGHAM, Wash. – With two weeks left in the regular season the Western Washington University men's basketball team is knocking on the door for a postseason bid to the GNAC Championships.

 

A turnaround for the ages has the Vikings at 9-6 in conference play heading into Saturday's 3 pm game vs. Simon Fraser. After starting the GNAC slate winless in the first five games, WWU has won nine of its last 10 games to sit in a tie for 4th place in the standings. A win Saturday vs. the Red Leafs would put the Vikings in a strong spot to officially clinch one of the six spots for the postseason tournament held March 6-8 in Lacey, Washington.

 

WWU's GNAC turnaround included a seven-game winning streak, and after a last-second one-point loss to Seattle Pacific on February 8, two more road wins last week at Western Oregon and Saint Martin's. The Vikings concluded the road portion of the GNAC schedule with six consecutive wins, the longest since the 2017-18 season.

 

The Vikings conclude the regular season with three consecutive home games beginning with Saturday's contest against SFU and then games next week against Central Washington (Feb. 27) and Northwest Nazarene (March 1).

 

Western's hot streak has also lifted the Vikings into strong postseason consideration for the NCAA Tournament, with the team one of the 10 teams listed in the initial regional rankings. Inkblot sports, a website that tracks regional rankings and projects, currently has the Vikings as the No. 8 seed in the West Region.

 

Sophomore guard Tijan Saine is coming off a historic week scoring 66 points in the wins over WOU and SMU, pouring in a career-high 37 points in the 87-78 win over Western Oregon and 29 against Saint Martin's. Saine was recognized as the GNAC Player of the Week after shooting 17-for-30 from the field (.567), 8-for-13 from three-point range (.615) and 24-for-25 from the free throw line.

 

Senior guard Will Wilson continues to lead the Vikings in scoring averaging 16.3 points per game to rank 5th in the GNAC and junior forward Garrett Levesque is 9th in the conference averaging a team-high 6.2 rebounds per game. As a team the Vikings lead the GNAC averaging 81.7 points per game, rank 2nd shooting 47.9-percent and 3rd in free throw percentage at 77.4-percent.

 

 

The Vikings (17-8, 9-6 GNAC) are back in action this Saturday hosting Simon Fraser in a 3 pm game on WECU Court in Carver Gym, with the women's game vs. the Red Leafs following at 7 pm. WWU completes the regular season with three consecutive home games in Carver Gym. The complete season schedule, complete with links on how to watch the games, can be viewed online at wwuvikings.com/MBB.

 

Here is a look at the Vikings record breakdown for the 2024-25 season:

 

 

WWU completed the road portion of the GNAC schedule last week with wins at Western Oregon (87-78) and Saint Martin's (91-81) to go 6-3 away from Bellingham in conference play. The Vikings won their final six conference road games for the longest GNAC road winning streak since also winning six straight in 2017-18.

 

To celebrate WECU's partnership with WWU Athletics, WECU members and one additional guest will receive free admission to watch the Vikings take on the Red Leafs this Saturday in Carver Gym. WECU members will need to redeem their free tickets at the WWU Ticket Office (opens at 2 pm) by showing their WECU card. Additionally, the first 300 fans through the doors in Carver Gym for both games will receive a limited edition WWU/WECU Scarf.

  
 
 
 
 
 
 
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The 2025 GNAC Men's and Women's Basketball Championships will be held March 6-8 at Marcus Pavilion on the campus of Saint Martin's University in Lacey. The top six teams in the GNAC standings at the end of the regular season will advance to the GNAC Championships (tiebreakers will be applied as necessary). The top two seeds earn byes to the semifinal round. The quarterfinal round will match the Nos. 3 and 6 seeds in one game and the Nos. 4 and 5 seeds in the other game. Quarterfinal winners will advance to Friday's semifinals. Semifinal winners will meet on Saturday for the championship. The winners of the GNAC Championships will automatically qualify for their respective NCAA Division II Championships events.

 

Sophomore guard Tijan Saine earned the GNAC Player of the Week award for the period of games played last week scoring 66 points in road contests at Western Oregon (37 points) and Saint Martin's (29 points). Saine's big week including shooting 56.7-percent from the field (17-for-30), 61.5-percent from three-point range (8-for-13) and was nearly perfect 24-for-25 from the free throw line. The 37-point outburst at WOU tied for 13th-most in WWU single-game history. The guard also totaled nine assists, four steals and nine rebounds.

  
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Here is a look at the 2024-25 GNAC Men's Basketball standings and overall records heading into the penultimate week of conference play. Updated standings and conference statistics can be viewed online at GNACSports.com. The top six teams in the conference standings at the end of the regular season will qualify for the GNAC Championships held March 6-8 in Lacey:

 

 

Here is a team statistical comparison for the Vikings from the first five GNAC games (0-5) and the last 10 conference games (9-1):

 

 

The first NCAA regional rankings of the 2024-25 season, which will ultimately determine the eight-team regional playoff field upon the conclusion of the regular season, were unveiled on Wednesday. Teams under consideration were posted in alphabetical order, with Central Washington, Montana State Billings, Northwest Nazarene, Saint Martin's and Western Washington giving the GNAC half of the 10 teams in the rankings. Next week's rankings will be the first released in numerical order. WWU is also listed No. 9 in the final edition of the D2CSC West Region poll.

 

Senior Charlie Dietiker represented WWU on the 2024-25 GNAC All-Academic Team for his standout work in the classroom with a cumulative 3.27 GPA majoring in business management. Dietiker became a two-time conference all-academic aware winner, one of just five repeat winners across the GNAC.

 

Five of the Vikings eight losses this season are by a combined 12 points. WWU dropped its first game of the season vs. Westminster on a half-court buzzer beater (66-63) and opened GNAC play with a pair of tight games falling at Northwest Nazarene by one point (75-74) and Central Washington (79-76). WWU's last loss to snap a seven-game winning streak was a one-point defeat against Seattle Pacific.

 

Saturday's game vs. SFU will feature a live (and free) webcast on YouTube with a direct link available at WWUVikings.com/Live. All home games will stream live on YouTube via Vikings TV. Additionally, every away GNAC game will feature a webcast on YouTube produced by the visiting team. To watch WWU home games on your Smart TV, navigate to the YouTube application and search for WWU Athletics, or for away games search for the opposing school's YouTube channel (example: UAA Athletics). All WWU links to follow the Vikings online can be found online, but be sure to bookmark the following links for easy access:

 

·         Vikings TV

·         GNAC Live Streams

·         Direct Link to watch games – wwuvikings.com/MBB_Watch

·         Direct Link to follow live stats – wwuvikings.com/MBB_Stats

 

Here is a look at the series history between WWU and its opponent this week:

 

·         Simon Fraser: WWU defeated SFU 79-77 on a three-pointer by Garrett Levesque with 3.5 seconds remaining…the Vikings have won five consecutive games against the Red Leafs and will be going for their third consecutive season sweep in the head-to-head series…WWU leads the all-time series vs. SFU 64-28 with a 22-5 mark in the last 27 meetings.

 

Redshirt freshman guard Grant Kepley has been filling the stat sheet in his first collegiate season making him a top candidate for GNAC Freshman of the Season. Kepley is averaging 14.5 points, 4.6 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 1.5 steals per game…while shooting 51.3-percent from the field (123-for-240), 47.4-percent from three-point range (37-for-78) and 82.1-percent from the free throw line (64-for-78). Among GNAC leaders Kepley ranks 14th in scoring average, 4th in assists, 14th in steals, 10th in field goal percentage, 2nd in three-point field goal percentage and 8th in free throw percentage.

 

Senior guard Will Wilson is averaging a team-best 16.3 points per game to rank 5th in the GNAC, and has won two GNAC Player of the Week awards. Wilson is also averaging 4.0 rebounds, 3.6 assists and shooting 49.1-percent from the field (139-for-283) while starting all 25 games. He has scored in double-digits in 21 of 25 games with nine 20-point performances (6 of last 11 games). Wilson was an honorable mention All-GNAC selection during his first WWU season averaging 15.8 points per game in 2023-24. Including junior college stops at State Fair CC and Mt. Hood CC, Wilson is making a run at 2,000 career points scoring 1,860 points in 107 career games (17.4 points per game) with 849 points in two seasons as a Viking.

 

Sophomore guard Tijan Saine hit the Vikings second buzzer-beater of the season capping the 77-75 win over then No. 17 Saint Martin's on January 16. Saine raced the length of the court with 5.1 seconds remaining on the clock and hit a floating layup as time expired to seal the victory and his 15-poing performance. WWU also won at the buzzer defeating No. 12 Cal State Dominguez Hills on opening night with freshman Aidan Rice hitting the game-winning three-pointer at time expired. In the Vikings last victory at Simon Fraser on January 25, Garrett Levesque hit a last-possession three-pointer with 3.5 seconds on the clock on the way to a 79-77 road win over the Red Leafs. Western was dealt a buzzer-beater loss on a half-court three-pointer by Westminster on November 21 and a late three-pointer with 4.1 seconds remaining in a 64-63 loss to Seattle Pacific on February 8.

 

Sophomore guard Tijan Saine has scored in double digits in 14 of 19 games and is averaging 16.0 points per game. Saine recorded a career-high nine assists in the road game at SFU and is averaging 3.8 assists per game to rank 7th in the conference. He is a career 88.8-percent free throw shooter going 183-for-206 from the charity stripe to rank 2nd all-time in program history. During the second half of the GNAC season (6 games) he is averaging 22.8 points per game.

 

The Vikings were selected as the GNAC Team of the Week following road wins over the Alaska schools January 30-February 1. The Vikings took down Alaska Anchorage 76-73 last Thursday before handing Alaska Fairbanks an 89-84 defeat on Saturday to record the tough Alaska sweep. 

 

The Vikings have had four players earn GNAC Player of the Week honors so far during the 2024-25 season, tying the program record for the most in a season with 2001-02, 2024-05, 2012-13 and 2016-17. Grant Kepley (Dec. 9-15), Louis Grante-Halliday (Nov. 11-17) and Will Wilson (Jan. 13-19) earning the awards. Here is a look at the complete list of GNAC Player of the Week awards from this season:

 

 

Freshman forward Trevor White leads the team and ranks 2nd in the GNAC averaging 1.2 blocked shots per game. Over the last 10 games White has been a force for the Vikings averaging 10.9 points, 5.8 rebounds and 2.1 blocked shots per game. For the season he is averaging 10.0 points while shooting 51.0-percent (99-for-194) to rank No. 13 in the GNAC.

 

Junior forward Garrett Levesque has started the Vikings last 14 games, averaging 8.6 points and 7.1 rebounds per game during this stretch dating back to December 20. For the season Levesque ranks 4th in the GNAC shooting 59.7-percent from the field (74-for-124), 9th averaging 6.2 rebounds and although it is not tracked, is likely among the leaders in thunderous dunks.

 

Junior forward Dajon Lott came to WWU after a standout two-year career at Sacramento City College, where he scored 879 points and grabbed 485 rebounds in 55 games for the Panthers. Lott has reached the 1,000-point milestone for his collegiate career with 1,036 all-time points including 157 in 24 games as a Viking.

 

Here is a game-by-game look at the 2024-25 season heading into this week's schedule:

 

 

Thanks to a partnership with WECU and The Foundation for WWU & Alumni, all current WWU students will receive free admission to all regular-season athletic events in Carver Gym and at Harrington Field again in 2024-25. Students just need to show their W card at the door and then head over to the WECU Student Section to cheer on the Viks. 

 

Parking for all WWU home events in Carver Gym is free and now located in the 19G Lot by the Student Recreation Center. Season ticket parking will be in the 9G lot. A parking map is available at wwuvikings.com.

 

WWU has made nine appearances in the NCAA Division II Championships since joining the level in 1998-99. Owns an all-time NCAA Tournament record of 17-7 (.708) and have won at least one game in six of eight previous championships appearances (2+ games  in 4 of 8). The Vikings are three-time West Region Champions (2001, 2012, 2013), advancing the NCAA II Final Four in all three of the Elite 8 appearances in program history. The Vikings won the 2012 NCAA II National Championship.

 

Head coach Tony Dominguez is in his 13th year and 12th season at the helm of the program, and 30th overall at WWU. Dominguez has led the Vikings to a 231-123 record (.653) and was the 2016-17 GNAC Coach of the Year. Dominguez has recorded 138 GNAC victories to rank 3rd-most in conference history. He is assisted by AJ Albritton (3rd season), Bob Hofstetter (12th season) and Atiavo Jude (12th season).

 

One of the premier basketball programs in NCAA Division II, WWU has recorded a 20-win season in eight of the last 13 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 2012 NCAA Division II National Championship and advanced the following season to the NCAA II Final Four. Western has 20-win seasons in three of the last six years (and seven of 11) and won the 2020 GNAC Championships Tournament. WWU is amongst the top 20 winningest Division II programs with its 1,577 all-time victories.