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Nov. 9, 2012

Box Score

BELLINGHAM, Wash. - First-year head coach Tony Dominguez had a winning debut as Western Washington University rolled over Multnomah University,100-44, in its season and home opener Friday in a non-conference men's basketball contest at Sam Carver Gymnasium on the WWU campus.

The contest was an exhibition for Multnomah, which entered with a 1-4 record.

"We sustained effort on defense 90 percent of the time," said Dominguez, who had been the Vikings' assistant for the last 17 seasons under Brad Jackson. "What makes it special tonight is having a group of guys who want to do it the right way."

Jackson left in August to become an assistant at Washington after 27 campaigns at WWU.

The Vikings, ranked No.6 in the National Association of Basketball Coaches Preseason Top 25 and the defending NCAA Division II national champions, had five players score in double-figures, led by the game-high 18 points of forward Paul Jones (Sr., Kent/Kent-Meridian).

Guard John Allen (Sr., Brier/Mountlake Terrace) had 17, guard Rico Wilkins (Sr., Dallas, TX/DeSoto) 14 and forward Austin Bragg (Jr., Longview/Mark Morris) and guard Cameron Severson (Sr., Petersburg, AK) 10 each. Allen also had eight assists.

Forward David Walker led Multnomah with 14 points. Guard Austin Hodges had 12 and forward Erik Mendoza 11.

WWU held the Lions to 30.2 percent (13-of-43) field-goal shooting and 20.0 percent (5-of-25) from 3-point range. The Vikings forced 21 turnovers and had a 45-16 rebound advantage.

WWU shot 58.8 percent (40-of-68) from the floor and was 11-of -21 from beyond the arc with Wilkins hitting four 3-pointers and Allen three.

WWU tallied the first 12 points of the game over a span of 4:28 with five different players scoring. The Vikings led 40-9 with 6:58 to go in the first half and had a 44-15 lead at halftime.

Multnomah never got closer than 27, 44-17 with 18:38 remaining, and WWU's biggest lead was 57, 98-41, with 47 seconds left.

The win was the 11th straight in home openers for the Vikings and it was their fifth consecutive season-opening victory.

WWU travels to Hawaii for non-conference games at Brigham Young Hawaii on Monday (7:30 p.m. HT), Nov. 12, and at Chaminade on Wednesday (7:30 p.m. HT), Nov. 14.