Men win by 3 over St. Martin's
Guard Jaamon Echols (Jr., Seattle/Rainier Beach) came off the bench to score 17 points and forward Jeffrey Parker (So., Richmond, CA/Salesian) added 16 as Western Washington University overcame a cold shooting night to claim a 64-61 victory over Saint Martin's University on Thursday, Jan. 22, in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's basketball contest at Sam Carver Gymnasium on the WWU campus.
The Vikings improved to 10-8 overall and 3-5 in the GNAC. It was the first contest of a four-game home stand for WWU, which is 9-0 there this season, and has won 14 straight and 50 of its last 51 games at Carver Gym.
Ryan Rogers had 15 points and Tyler Idowu added 12 points and seven rebounds for Saint Martin's, which fell to 5-13 overall and 2-6 in the GNAC with its fifth straight loss.
The Vikings led by seven, 61-54, with 1:15 to play, but Saint Martin's rallied as Idowu hit two free throws, then after WWU failed to get the ball in-bounds, Idowu converted a layin and was fouled with 50 seconds remaining. He missed the free throw, but Rogers grabbed the rebound for the Saints.
With the Vikings ahead by three, 61-58, Saint Martin's Isaac Bianchini missed a 3-pointer with 13 seconds left.
WWU's Anye Turner (Sr., Tumwater/Black Hills) then hit one of two free throws to essentially put the game out of reach, 62-58, but Bianchini hit a trey with 0.7 seconds left before Echols made two free throws with 0.2 seconds to go for the final margin.
WWU used a 14-5 run to take a 54-45 lead, its biggest of the game, with eight minutes left before Saint Martin's responded with seven straight points to close the margin to two, 54-52, with 4:14 remaining.
Joey Schreiber (So., Renton/Eastside Catholic) added 12 points and a game-high nine rebounds for the Vikings, who shot just 38.9 percent (21-of-54) from the field and 60.9 percent (14-of-23) on free throws. Saint Martin's shot only 37.3 percent (22-of-59) from the floor.
The Vikings hit just four of their first 21 shots from the field and trailed, 22-12, with five minutes left in the first half. WWU hit six of its last eight shots in the period and narrowed the margin to two, 30-28 at halftime.
It was the 10th straight win for the Vikings in the series, which they lead 127-60.
WWU hosts GNAC-leading Western Oregon on Saturday, Jan. 24 (7 p.m.).