Impero scores 29 points in WWU men’s basketball win

Senior guard Kyle Impero scored a career-high 29 points on 11-of-16 shooting to lead the No. 15 Western Washington University Vikings to a 90-75 win over the Upper Iowa University on Saturday, Oct. 31, at the Conference Commissioner's Association Division II Tip-Off Classic at the Anaheim Convention Center.

The Vikings (2-0) trailed for the second consecutive day at halftime, 44-42, but blew past the Peacocks with a 48-31 advantage in the second half. WWU opened the season with a 95-84 win over Colorado Springs Friday.

“We started a little slow again in the first half and were just a little anxious on the offensive side,” WWU coach Tony Dominguez said in a news release. “In the second half we made the extra pass and moved the ball around, and cleaned up our technique on defense, and that really allowed us to go on some nice runs.”

Impero scored 17 of his career-high 29 points in the second half while connecting on 7-of-9 shots from the field. The 6-4 guard landed one three-pointer and was also 6 for 7 from the free throw line. He narrowly missed his second career double-double recording a team-high 9 rebounds.

“Kyle does everything for us – defense, rebounding, scoring – he really fills up the stat sheet,” added Dominguez. “He is an all-around good player and will be a catalyst for us.”

Four Vikings reached double figures in scoring, including 17 points from junior forward Jeffrey Parker, 16 points from senior point guard Ricardo Maxwell, and 10 points from senior center Mac Johnson. In two games Maxwell and Impero are tied for the team lead averaging 21.5 points per game.

The Vikings went into halftime trailing UIU 44-42 after shooting 46.9 percent, including just 1 for 7 (14.3 percent) from three-point range. Impero and Maxwell each had 12 first-half points to lead the Vikings.

Western stormed out of intermission scoring the first eight points, and went on a 14-2 run. A three-pointer by Luke Lenhart at 12:45 pulled UIU to within three points at 55-58, but the Vikings pulled away with a 10-0 run and never looked back while building a 17-point lead at 83-66 with 5:30 remaining. Parker hit back-to-back three-pointers at 11:20 and 11:03 to fuel WWU’s run.

Upper Iowa was led by 18 points from Luke Lenhart (4 three-pointers) and 13 points from Josh Weeber.

This story was originally published October 31, 2015 at 5:47 PM with the headline "Impero scores 29 points in WWU men’s basketball win."