Trevor Jasinsky drives to the basket while scoring his 1,000th career point Thursday night at UAA (Photo: Skip Hickey)
Vikings Pick Up Big Road Win at UAA, 76-66
February 21, 2019
ANCHORAGE, Alaska – The Western Washington University men’s basketball team put together one of its most complete games of the season, going on the road to defeat Alaska Anchorage 76-66 Thursday evening in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play at the Alaska Airlines Center.
WWU junior Trevor Jasinsky (Camas, WA) led a balanced team effort with 14 points and reached the 1,000-point milestone in his career. Senior guard Tyler Payne (Long Beach, CA/Cerritos College) added 14 points as the Vikings had five players with at least 9 points.
The Vikings had dropped five of their last six, but with the victory evened their season record at 13-13 and remain in the postseason picture with a 7-9 record in GNAC play. UAA dropped to 13-12 overall and remain just ahead of WWU in the conference standings at 8-9 in league play.
UAA (8-9), Montana State Billings (8-9), Simon Fraser (7-9) and WWU (7-9) are in a fight for the final two spots in the GNAC Championships that will be played March 7-9 in Bellingham.
In addition to the big games by Jasinsky and Payne, junior forward KJ Bosco (Portland, OR/Portland CC) came off the bench to contribute 12 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists in 22 minutes. Junior guard Tucker Eenigenburg (Bakersfield, CA/Bakersfield College) added 11 points with three big 3-pointers. Junior guard Leif Anderson (Bellingham, WA/Sehome/Whatcom CC) had 9 points and 3 assists.
Overall the Vikings shot 41.7% from the field (25-for-60), and were 11-for-26 from 3-point range (42.3%) and 15-for-20 from the free throw line (75.0%). WWU’s bench out-scored UAA’s reserves 31-8 and the Vikings held a 20-12 advantage in points in the paint.
The Seawolves were led by a game-high 31 points from Tyler Brimhall, who went 11-for-24 from the field (6-for-13 3FG). Brian Pearson added 10 points on 5-for-6 shooting, but UAA was limited to 36.5% shooting (23-for-63).
THE TURNAROUND POINT
UAA led by as many as 8 points early in the first half, but the Vikings used a 21-5 run over a seven-minute stretch to turn a six-point deficit into a 10-point lead. UAA ended the first half on a 5-0 run, and scored the first basket of the second half to trim WWU’s lead to three points (34-31), but the Vikings never trailed after taking the lead at the 5:37 mark in the first half.
PULLING AWAY IN THE SECOND HALF
The Vikings grew their lead to as many as 16 points in the second half, with a 15-6 run early in the half proving to be a difference maker. WWU also had an 11-4 run pulling away from a 55-46 lead to grow the margin to a game-high 16 points with 3:33 left in the game.
JASINSKY HITS 1,000 CAREER POINT MILESTONE
Trevor Jasinsky reached the 1,000 point milestone in his career with a layup and a free throw at the 8:50 mark in the first half. Jasinsky became the 26th player in WWU men’s basketball history to reach the 1,000 career point milestone. Jasinsky is now tied for 24th in program history with 1,008 points in 86 career games.
UP NEXT
The Vikings (13-13, 7-9) remain on the road facing Alaska Fairbanks on Saturday at 2 pm AKT/3 pm PT. The game vs. the Nanooks will stream live via GNAC.tv. WWU closes out the 2018-19 regular season next week with home games against Western Oregon (Feb. 28) and Concordia (March 2), with both games tipping off at 7 pm in Carver Gym.
-- @WWUHoops --
