Box Score

Bellingham, WA -- The Academy of Art University men's basketball team could not overcome a first half deficit and dropped an 86-23 decision to Western Washington University in the teams' first game of the Chuck Randall Thanksgiving Classic at Sam Carver Gym. Junior guard Phillip Samuel had six points and AAU falls to 0-3 overall while WWU moves to 6-1 overall with the victory.

The Vikings began the game on a 10-0 run though it took them six minutes to do so as both teams defended well to start. Samuel was later able to break the drought with a jumper from the free-throw line with 10:40 on the clock. At halftime, WWU had increased its advantage to 31-6 while AAU finished shooting 3-of-30 from the floor.

“I actually thought we played really good defense in the first fourteen minutes of the game,” Coach Sembrowich said. “We're just not good enough at this point and [Western Washington] is a good team.”

An 11-0 push by WWU opened the second half, but Academy of Art managed a better period than the first. The Knights posted 17 points and managed 10 points in the paint in the half.

Behind the six points from Samuel, four other Knights scored four points apiece. Sophomore forward Hunter Hayden, junior guard Lance Olivier, and freshman center Mike Jorritsma combined to score 16 of AAU's 23 points.

Western Washington was led by a game-high 17 points and eight rebounds from center Dave Vanderjagt. Guard Rory Blanche added 12 points off the bench and guard Morris Anderson contributed 11 points including three 3-pointers.

“We've got a tough weekend here and we'll find out about ourselves tomorrow,” Coach Sembrowich said.

Academy of Art continues with its second and final game of the 11th Chuck Randall Thanksgiving Classic when the Knights take on Saint Martin's University tomorrow at 3:00 PM. The contest can be seen on www.greatnorthwest.tv