Western Washington’s men’s basketball team showed glimpses of greatness all season, but not Wednesday night.
The Vikings lost, 70-59, to Western Oregon in the opening game of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference tournament at Marcus Pavilion in Lacey, ending a once-promising season in a hail of missed shots from short range and long.
Western finishes its 2021-22 campaign with a record of 14-14 overall, 7-11 in the GNAC. This was the final game in Viking uniforms for guard RJ Secrest of Bremerton, forward Dakota Ayala of Troutdale, Oregon, and forward Luke Lovelady of Tacoma, all senior starters.
Western Washington shot a season-worst 36.4%, going 24-for-66 from the field, while Western Oregon’s 37.5% wasn’t much better. But Western managed only 9 of 30 free throws (42.9%) to Western Oregon’s 24-for-27 from the line. The Vikings were 2-for-21 from 3-point range (9.5%), clearly missing long-distance sharpshooter Daniel Hornbuckle, out with a broken jaw suffered Feb. 19.
“Guys got frustrated. As a human being, you can only take so much. They just had a mental collapse.” — Tony Dominguez, Western men’s head coach
Junior guard Lucas Holden, who started in place of Hornbuckle, and sophomore guard D’Angelo Minnis led the Vikings with 13 points apiece. Jalen Green managed 10 points on 5-of-12 shooting, below his team-leading 15.9 point average, but had 12 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season. Kai Johnson also added 10.
Forward Lovelady scored four points in 20 minutes of playing time. He was unable to practice for more than 10 minutes as recently as Monday due to a lingering back injury. The Vikings’ 12 steals tied a single-game high for the season.
Tyreek Price scored 14 points to lead the Wolves, while John Morrill-Keeler posted a double-double with 10 points and 14 rebounds.
After a low-scoring, see-saw first half that ended with the Vikings trailing, 27-26, the teams seemed destined for an equally close second half when Johnson’s driving layup tied it at 34 with 13:25 to go in the game. But Antonio Salinas’ 3-pointer made it 37-34 for the Wolves, who scored nine straight points as Western Washington’s offense sputtered.
Western Oregon’s 23-10 run gave them an insurmountable 13-point lead with six minutes left.
Vikings coach Tony Dominguez, in his 10th year, said players “hit a wall” and were psychologically drained after a season of coping with COVID-19 reschedulings, injuries and late-game collapses. Missed free throws and missed open shots pointed to fatigue other than physical.
“We had so many barriers and obstacles, so many bumps in the road we’re not accustomed to,” Dominguez said, adding Wednesday night’s game was “a microcosm of the season.”
“Guys got frustrated,” Dominguez said. “As a human being, you can only take so much. They just had a mental collapse.”
The Vikings, the No. 8 seed, were the slight favorite over No. 9 Western Oregon (9-17 overall, 7-10 conference), but the Wolves appeared to have Western’s number. The conference win-or-go-home game was their third meeting this season, with Western Oregon completing a three-game sweep. Western Oregon will play No. 1 Saint Martin’s in the conference quarterfinals on Thursday.
Dominguez sounded weary but optimistic about his players and next season.
“We have a tremendous group of kids,” he said. “They stuck together. They really care about each other. I wouldn’t trade them. I’d trade the type of season we had … This will push everyone to be great moving forward. If they have it in them to be champions, they will take this and grow from it.”
