WWU men’s basketball opens season with win over Colorado Springs

The No. 15 Western Washington University men’s basketball team opened the 2015-16 season with a 95-84 win over the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs on Friday, Oct. 30, at the Conference Commissioner’s Association Division II Tip-Off Classic in Anaheim, Calif.

The Vikings (1-0) were led by 27 points and eight assists from senior point guard Ricardo Maxwell. Junior forward Jeffrey Parker added 23 points and seven rebounds while shooting 50 percent from the field (8 for 16).

“This was a nice way to start the season and play the way we like to play,” said fourth-year head coach Tony Dominguez in a news release. “We have faced some adversity early in the season with some injuries and being off campus, so this was a confidence booster to get the first win out of the way.”

Western shot 50.0 percent from behind the three-point line (11 of 22), including 5 three-pointers from Brett Kingma in his Vikings debut. Maxwell contributed a trio of three-pointers and senior Kyle Impero was 2 for 2 from beyond the arc. Impero was the fourth Viking to finish with double-digits in scoring with 14 points.

“Pretty balanced effort from our guys and Ricardo (Maxwell) did a nice job directing the team from the point,” said Dominguez. “He controlled the tempo in the second half and we didn’t panic. Our guys should feel good about how they played.”

The Mountain Lions (0-1) were led by 25 points from senior forward Alex Welsh and 21 points from senior guard Kendall Godley. UCCS advanced to the NCAA Division II tournament last season and were ranked as high as No. 2 in the country in 2014-15.

This story was originally published October 30, 2015 at 10:08 PM with the headline "WWU men’s basketball opens season with win over Colorado Springs."