The Doug Lange Network 

February, 23, 2019

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FAIRBANKS, Alaska – Western Washington University freshman forward Jalen Green scored a career-high 23 points, including 19 in the second half, to lead the Vikings to an 85-75 victory over Alaska Fairbanks Saturday afternoon in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play on Alaska Airlines Court.

 

The Vikings secured the Alaskan sweep, also defeating Alaska Anchorage 76-66 on Thursday, to improve to 14-13 overall and remain in the GNAC playoff race at 8-9 in conference play. WWU has three regular-season games remaining, playing at Simon Fraser on Tuesday and then hosting Western Oregon (Thursday) and Concordia (Saturday) in Carver Gym.

 

Green (Renton, WA/Lindbergh) recorded his career high in points on 9-for-14 shooting, including 5-for-8 from 3-point range. After scoring 4 points in the first half, Green was 7-for-8 from the field and 5-for-6 from beyond the arc in his 19-point second half. The freshman returned to the starting lineup on Thursday logging 18 minutes, after missing the previous three games with an injury.

 

Junior forward Trevor Jasinsky (Camas, WA) poured in a team-high 25 points on 11-for-19 shooting, scoring 18 of his points in the fast-paced second half. Jasinsky, who reach 1,000 career points on Thursday at Alaska Anchorage, moved up to No. 22 in program history with 1,033 points.

 

Senior point guard Tyler Payne (Long Beach, CA/Cerritos College) tied his career-high with 9 assists, and added 7 points while logging a team-high 39 minutes on the court. WWU dished out 19 assists to only 5 turnovers in the game.

 

Junior forward KJ Bosco (Portland, OR/Portland CC) scored 12 points (3-for-4 FG), grabbed 6 rebounds and had 3 blocks in 25 minutes. Junior guard Leif Anderson (Bellingham, WA/Sehome) also reached double-figures in scoring with 11 points on 3-for-8 shooting.

 

Alaska forward Michael Kluting scored a game-high 28 points on 11-for-20 shooting, and also had 17 rebounds for his league-best 10th double-double of the season. The 17 rebounds are the most by a GNAC player this season. Alex Baham (12 points) and Tre Eisenhut (10 points) also reached double-digit scoring for the Nanooks (5-20, 2-16 GNAC).

 

A SECOND HALF TO REMEMBER

The Vikings scored 52 points in the second half, the most points scored in a half in any of the 17 GNAC games this season. WWU shot a blistering 66.7% (18-for-27) in the half, including 9-for-16 (56.3%) from 3-point range. Jalen Green scored 19 of his career-high 23 points in the half on 7-for-8 shooting and was 5-for-6 from 3-point range. Trevor Jasinsky added 18 points on 8-for-12 shooting and was 2-for-5 from beyond the arc.

 

THE RUN THAT MATTERED

WWU held a 5-point halftime lead at 33-28, but the Nanooks scored the first two baskets of the second half to pull to within one point at 33-32. The Vikings answered with a 21-10 run over a six-minute stretch to build the lead back to double-digits at 54-42. Jalen Green hit back-to-back 3-pointers to extend the run 29-13 building the lead to a game-high 18 points.

 

FIRST HALF LEAD

The Vikings raced out to a 25-13 lead, going on a 14-5 run that was capped by five consecutive points scored by KJ Bosco. Fairbanks answered the run by going on an 11-1 spurt of their own, and pulled to within two points at 26-24 with 4:21 remaining the half. Bosco made a pair of free throws at the end of the half to give the Vikings a 33-28 lead, bring his first-half point total to a team-high 11 points (3-for-4 FG, 3-for-4 FT). Trevor Jasinsky added 7 points on 3-for-7 shooting. UAF was led by a first-half high 12 points from Michael Kluting on 5-for-11 shooting.

 

ALASKAN SWEEP

The Vikings recorded the sixth Alaskan sweep in program history, defeating Alaska Anchorage 76-66 on Thursday and Alaska Fairbanks 85-75 on Saturday. Also swept the Alaskan schools last year, marking the second time in program history to sweep the trip to Alaska in back-to-back seasons joining 2011-12. The Vikings also swept the Seawolves and Nanooks in 2002 and 2009. There have been fewer than 25 sweeps at the Alaska schools in GNAC play since the conference was formed in 2001-02, with WWU (6) and Seattle Pacific (7) combining for 13 for the most by GNAC teams.

 

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

The Vikings shot 51.8% (30-for-58) in the game, the highest by WWU in a GNAC game this season (5thgame overall shooting 50.0% or better)…WWU recorded a 3.8 assist to turnover ratio, tallying 19 assists and only 5 turnovers…made 14 3-pointers, the sixth consecutive game to record 10-or-more 3-pointers…Trevor Jasinsky has scored in double-digits in 25 of 27 games and is averaging 19.7 points per game…leads the GNAC with 16 games with 20-or-more points (8 of last 11)…WWU played for the fifth consecutive game without starting forward Luke Lovelady (injury)…Trevor Jasinsky averaged 19.5 points and 6.0 rebounds per game in the two wins at the Alaska schools.

 

UP NEXT

The Vikings (14-13, 8-9 GNAC) conclude the 2018-19 regular season next week with a busy schedule, playing three games. The week begins with a contest at Simon Fraser on Tuesday at 7 pm, a makeup game of the scheduled Feb. 12 game that was postponed due to weather conditions. After the Tuesday game in Burnaby, BC, the Vikings return to Carver Gym hosting Western Oregon on Thursday (Feb. 28) and Concordia on Saturday (March 2), with both games tipping off at 7 pm on WECU Court. Tickets are available to purchase in advance for the home games by visiting WWUVikings.com/Tickets.

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-- @WWUHoops --