The Western Washington University men’s basketball team suffered its largest loss of the season, 90-73, at the hands of Seattle Pacific University on Saturday night.
Western came into the night averaging the eighth-most points per game in the nation. The Vikings looked the part early, building a 7-2 lead in just three minutes.
However, in that same span, Vikings sophomore forward BJ Kolly — who finished with a team-high 24 points — collected two fouls and sat on the bench for the remainder of the half.
Seattle Pacific was able to capitalize on a few Western misses, and the Falcons kept their foot on the gas after tying the game at 18-18 with nine minutes remaining in the first half. Sophomore forward Shaw Anderson led the Falcons in the first half with 19 points.
“We’ve got to get our synergy,” said Western head coach Tony Dominguez. “We have a lot of season left, and so [the focus is] getting young minds to come out of frustration and learn how to focus in on the controllables.”
After a hot 9-3 start, Western faced a rocky few losses in the Hoops in Hawai’i Holiday Classic which frustrated the team, Dominguez said. Since then, they’ve been tinkering with lineups and schemes to try to give the team “a little bit of a jolt.”
Kolly re-entered at the start of the second half and went on a tear, adding 22 points over the game’s final 20 minutes. His 24 total points were a career-high for the Mariner High School product.
“I knew I didn’t play much in the first half, so I tried to come in and be a ball of energy,” Kolly said.
Anderson didn’t slow down despite Kolly’s heroics, and the Seattle Pacific forward finished with a game-high 28 points while shooting 12-for-14 from the field.
The Vikings’ defense has been a weakness during the recent stretch in which they have lost five of their last seven games. When Western’s defense has been in a groove, the team has found success. When defensive rotations aren’t clicking and the team gets tired, it has been a big momentum-killer, Kolly said.
Western has lost three in a row, and the defeat puts the Vikings’ record at 2-3 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference games — fourth place behind Seattle Pacific, which moved to 5-1.
With 13 games left in the conference schedule and regular season, the Vikings have their work cut out for them as they head on to their annual road trip to Alaska next week.
Western will next face the University of Alaska Anchorage on Thursday, Jan. 12 at 6:15 p.m.
“Life has dealt us a crappy three-game stretch here. It’s not how we started, it’s not how we looked a month ago,” Dominguez said. “So do we have the internal fortitude to get mentally tough and dig down and keep going? And that’ll be the testament of the guys.”
