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Feb. 16, 2013

Box Score

Post-Game Interview with Paul Jones

BELLINGHAM, Wash. - Guard John Allen (Sr. Brier/Mountlake Terrace) scored a game-high 27 points as nationally ranked Western Washington University used a quick start to win its 30th straight game with a 105-78 victory over Western Oregon University in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's basketball contest Saturday at Sam Carver Gymnasium on the WWU campus.

The defending NCAA Division II national champion Vikings, ranked No.2 for the fourth straight time in this week's National Association of Basketball Coaches Top 25, improved to 24-0 and remained atop the GNAC at 15-0. Both the start and streak are school and conference records.

It was the 23rd straight win for WWU at Carver Gym, also a school record and putting it within two of the GNAC mark set by Humboldt State from 2001-03. The Vikings are 13-0 at home this season.

Western Oregon dropped to 10-12 overall and 5-9 in GNAC action. Freshman forward Andy Avgi had 17 points for the Wolves, and Devon Alexander and Tyler Funk each added 16.

The Vikings hit 13 of their first 20 shots from the field, going 7-of-9 on 3-pointers, to open up a 35-20 lead with 9:25 left in the first half. WOU pulled within three, 43-40, on an Alexander basket with 4:17 left in the period, but WWU held a 57-49 lead at halftime.

The margin was still just nine, 73-64, with just over 10 minutes left, but the Vikings put the game away with a 17-3 run, capped by a Chris Mitchell (Sr., Everson/Nooksack Valley) dunk, to take a 90-67 lead with 5:18 remaining.

Forward Paul Jones (Sr., Kent/Kent-Meridian) had 20 points on 8-of-8 field-goal shooting, and Mitchell added 17 points and a game-high nine rebounds for the Vikings, who shot 60.0 percent (42-of-70) from the field, including 64.9 percent (24-of-37) in the first half.

Allen was 10-of-16 from the field, going 5-of-6 on 3-pointers, and had seven assists. He passed the 1,300-point and 300-assist plateaus for his career, reaching 1,308 points, just two short of 12th place Kevin Bryant (1976-80) in WWU history, and 306 assists.

WWU next travels to Alaska for GNAC games against Alaska Fairbanks on Thursday, Feb. 21 (7:30 p.m.) and Alaska Anchorage on Saturday, Feb. 23 (7:30 pm.).