Ira Graham

July 22, 2008

BELLINGHAM, Wash. - A 2007-08 season that started with great promise ended with a sense of disappointment for the Western Washington University men's basketball team.

The Vikings posted a 15-12 record and were 8-10 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference for coach Brad Jackson (23 years, 424-251).

Western opened the season in impressive fashion, winning eight of its first 10 games, closing that run out with an 82-63 victory at Northwest Nazarene on Jan. 2. But the Vikings slipped into a lose-two, win-two pattern for the next month, leaving them 12-6 in early February.

At that point, there was still hope of a post-season berth, but instead, Western slumped to 3-6 over the last nine games to conclude the campaign.

Leading the way for the Vikings was junior guard Ira Graham (Fontana, CA), a first-team all-GNAC pick. Graham averaged 18.5 points a game, tied for second in the conference, while shooting 52.3 percent (184-of-352) from the field. He scored in double figures in 24 of the 27 games, and also led Western in assists at 2.9 a game.

Graham, who was named to three all-tournament teams, reached 30 points three times, including a career-high 33 against Western Oregon.

The only other player to average double figures was junior forward Steve Alford (Bakersfield, CA/South), who contributed 10.1 points and 4.0 rebounds.

Junior forward Calin Schell (Chelan) joined Graham as the only Viking to start every game. Schell averaged 9.2 points, shooting 54.0 percent (102-of-189) from the field, and ranked third in the GNAC in rebounds at 7.7 a game.

Sophomore center Steve Severin (Richland/Hanford) contributed 7.0 points a contest, leading the GNAC in blocked shots at 2.2 a game and being fifth in rebounds (7.4). Junior Andrew Ready (Chicago, IL/Westinghouse), who missed eight games in the middle of the season because of a suspension, was the starting point guard and contributed 7.3 points.

The biggest scorer off the bench was junior guard Derrick Webb (Port Orchard/South Kitsap), who contributed 9.0 points a game, scoring 27 in a loss at Alaska Anchorage.

Another regular reserve on the perimeter was sophomore guard Harold McAllister (Vancouver/Mountain View), who averaged 5.7 points while shooting a team-best 40.3 percent (31-of-77) on 3-pointers. McAllister hit a school-record eight straight 3-pointers over a four-game stretch.

Up front, junior Zach Bruce (Oceanside, CA) and sophomore David Brittinen (Hoquiam) provided the bench strength. Bruce averaged 5.1 points and 3.1 rebounds. Brittinen, who made 13 straight field-goal attempts at one point in the season, averaged 5.6 points, hitting 57 of his 77 attempts from the field (74.0 percent), and upped his averages to 9.1 points and 4.1 rebounds over the last 11 games.

Guards Jason Pegues (Seattle/Cleveland), Greg Meier (Chelan) and Anthony Wiederkehr (Arlington/Lakewood) completed the roster. Pegues, a junior, averaged 3.4 points and 1.1 assists in 21 games. Meier, the lone senior, averaged 1.6 points in 22 contests. Wiederkehr, a sophomore, played in 12 games, averaging 1.3 points.

The Vikings were second in the GNAC in scoring at 79.1 points a game, and held opponents to 41.2 percent field-goal shooting, the lowest mark in 19 seasons. But Western's weak spot was free throw shooting. The Vikings, who had the best free throw percentage nationally in NCAA Division II just two seasons prior, shot a school low of 61.2 percent from the charity stripe, hitting better than 70 percent in just seven games.