Second-ranked Vikings open four-game home stand, longest of season

Opening a four-game home stand, its longest of the season, the Western Washington University men's basketball team hosts University of Alaska Anchorage on Thursday, Jan. 24 (7 p.m.) and University of Alaska Fairbanks on Saturday, Jan. 26 (7 p.m.) in a pair of Great Northwest Athletic Conference contests at Sam Carver Gymnasium on the WWU campus.

Thursday's game can be heard live on KPUG Radio (AM 1170 - Bellingham, www.kpug1170.com) and Saturday's game on KBAI Radio (AM 930 - Bellingham, www.930kbai.com) with Doug Lange providing the play-by-play and Mark Scholten handling the color commentary. A webcast and live stats are available at www.wwuvikings.com.

WWU, the defending national champion and ranked No.2 in this week's National Association of Basketball Coaches/NCAA Division II Top 25 Poll, is 16-0 overall and atop the GNAC standings at 7-0.

The Vikings have won 22 straight games over the last two years, starting with six in its national title run last season. The winning streak is just one short of the longest in school history, trailing only a 23-game run from Feb. 20, 1971 to Feb. 15, 1972, and is the longest in the 12-year history of the conference.

WWU's 16-game start without a setback also is second in school history, the record being 21-0 in 1971-72.

The Vikings, who are 7-0 at home this season, also are working on a 17-game victory string at Carver Gym. That trails by three the school standard of 20 set from 1970 to 1972.

Twelve of WWU's wins this season have been by 10 or more points, the other margins being six, four, three and one.

Last week, WWU won two league road games, 91-81 at Western Oregon and 104-56 at Saint Martin's. It is the second straight year that the Vikings have swept that trip after splitting in each of the previous three seasons and losing both in 2007-08.

Senior guard John Allen had 38 points against Western Oregon, the second highest total of his three years at WWU, and Jones added a career-high 27. It was Allen's sixth career outing with 30 or more points. He scored a career-high 43, the second-highest figure in school history and just four off the school record, against Simon Fraser on Jan. 2, 2011.

Junior forward Austin Bragg had his team-leading fourth double-double with 17 points and 12 rebounds versus Saint Martin's

The Vikings rank among the top 12 nationally in seven team categories. They are No.3 in scoring margin (21.4), No.4 in 3-point percentage defense (27.8). No.6 in scoring offense (89.4), No.8 in rebound margin (10.4), No.9 in field-goal percentage (50.7), No.11 in blocked shots (5.2) and No.12 in 3-point percentage (41.1).

WWU leads the GNAC in scoring offense, scoring margin, field-goal percentage, field-goal percentage defense (40.3), 3-point percentage, 3-point percentage defense, steals (8.9), offensive rebounds (13.8) and blocked shots.