Western Washington men’s basketball extended its winning streak to seven games after defeating Montana State University Billings 94-74 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play Thursday, Feb. 6 at Carver Gymnasium.
“We have a long way to go,” Western coach Tony Dominguez said. “We dug ourselves into a big hole earlier this season and need to play hard each game.”
The Vikings (15-7, 7-5 GNAC) struggled in the first half, trailing 35-32 and committing 10 turnovers to the Yellowjackets’ two. MSU Billings (15-10, 6-6 GNAC) also scored eight points off turnovers in the first 20 minutes.
Gallery: Western men fly by MSU Billings
“Through these games, we have had high assists and low turnovers,” Dominguez said. “We were not playing basketball in the first half.”
MSU Billings went on a couple runs throughout the first half to take a 25-15 lead with about seven minutes remaining. The Vikings did tie the game at 30-30 with less than two minutes left in the half. During that span, Grant Kepley scored three points while Garrett Levesque and Dajon Lott rach had two points. Kepley led the Vikings with a team-high 24 points to go with 12 rebounds and five assists on the night.
“My teammates found me in the right spots and I had the right opportunities,” Kepley said. “Everyone is feeding off each other right now.”
Will Wilson added 20 points and Levesque followed with 14 points for the night. In the second half, the Vikings shot 70.6%, had 21 rebounds and only two turnovers.
“They kept making the extra pass,” Dominguez said. “Grant was big in rebounding and scoring but it was a great team effort.”
The Vikings erased the deficit and took their first lead from a 3-pointer by Wilson. The lead reached double digits when Kepley hit a 3-pointer a few possessions later. MSU Billings had a final 7-0 run with a few minutes left but couldn’t keep up with Western’s offense.
“We have been working hard together,” Kepley said. “We are sticking together through these games.”
Western will host Seattle Pacific (12-11, 8-4 GNAC) at 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 8 for a chance to climb into the top three in the conference standings.
Nick Zeller-Singh is CDN's sports reporter; reach him at nickzellersingh@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 104.
