After a back-and-forth first half, Western Washington took the lead in the second half and held off in a 79-68 victory in GNAC men’s basketball action Saturday night at Carver Gymnasium.
Western Washington (12-6, 5-4 GNAC) took an early 11-point lead, but Seattle University went on a 25-7 run, led by 13 points from Michael Knight (Seattle, Wash.) and eight points by Austen Powers (Glendale, Ariz.), to take its own 35-28 lead with 5:09 remaining before halftime. The Vikings scored the next ten points to retake the lead, but a three-pointer by Drew Harris (, ) and a layup by Travis Welt () gave SeattleU another lead. Ira Graham hit a layup as time ran out in the first half to send both teams into their locker rooms tied at 40-40.
After trading baskets, Andrew Ready hit a three-pointer to give the lead for good, and Graham made back-to-back three-pointers to extend the Vikings’ advantage to 53-44 with 13:31 left in the second half. Chris Gweth (Beaverton, Ore.) scored four straight points to cut the deficit to three, but Western Washington outscored SeattleU 10-2 over the next six minutes, and the Redhawks were unable to come closer the rest of the way.
Knight led SeattleU with 18 points, while Ryan Coldren () scored 12 points, Gweth earned 11 points, and Powers finished with ten points, hitting all three field goals and all four free throws he shot in the game. Michael Wright (, ) pulled down nine rebounds, and Shaun Burl () contributed four rebounds, five assists, and three steals.
For , Graham and Ready each scored 17 points, while Steve Alford earned 14 points and six rebounds. David Brittinen came off the bench and contributed ten points and seven rebounds, and Calin Schell added ten rebounds and three blocked shots to the winning effort.
After shooting 50 percent from the field in the first half, SeattleU shot only 31 percent in the second half. Meanwhile, shot 48.9 percent from the field and 76.5 percent from the free throw line in the game, plus won the rebounding battle, 35-31. did take good care of the basketball, committing only ten turnovers.
(11-7, 4-5 GNAC) continues its four-game road swing next weekend, heading to , to face Northwest Nazarene Thursday, Feb. 7, beginning at 7 p.m. local time. The Redhawks defeated the Crusaders in the first meeting of the season in , 76-58.