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Back home following a sweep of its Alaska road trip, the nationally ranked Western Washington University men's basketball team entertains arch-rival Central Washington University at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 18, at Sam Carver Gymnasium on the ²ÝÁñÉçÇø campus. The contest will be telecast live regionally on ROOT Sports TV.

The Vikings, ranked No.22 in this week's National Association of Basketball Coaches/NCAA Division II Top 25 Poll, are 15-3 overall and tied for first in the GNAC standings at 6-1 with Western Oregon. ²ÝÁñÉçÇø held on for a 73-68 win at Alaska Anchorage on Jan. 14 after rolling to a 101-81 victory at Alaska Fairbanks on Jan. 12.

²ÝÁñÉçÇø's sweep in Alaska was its second in as many years, something only one other school has accomplished in the 11-year history of the GNAC. In all, the Vikings have four Alaska road sweeps, a conference record

²ÝÁñÉçÇø has beaten three of the four top 25 NCAA II teams it has faced this season, the lone loss being by just three points. The Vikings defeated No.10 Rollins FL, 80-61, then had a nine-game winning streak snapped in a 77-74 loss to No.18 Alabama Huntsville at their Great Western Shootout in Las Vegas on Dec. 15-16.

In its other two contests against top 25 opponents, ²ÝÁñÉçÇø won 79-71 at No.19 Seattle Pacific on Dec. 3 and upset 2011 national runner-up and No.3 ranked BYU-Hawaii, 88-69, at Carver Gym on Nov. 21.

Senior forward Rory Blanche needs 10 more points to become the 22nd player in school history to reach 1,000. He has scored double-figures in 35 of his last 36 games, starting that stretch with 23 straight.

Blanche leads the team in both points and rebounds with respective per game averages of 16.0 and 7.3. He is fourth in the GNAC in scoring, offensive rebounds (2.9) and field-goal shooting (58.3 percent, 127-of-218); and seventh in rebounds.

Junior guard John Allen, who was named GNAC Player of the Week for his play in Alaska, is averaging 13.6 points. He leads the GNAC in free throw percentage (90.2, 46-of-51), while being third in steals (2.3), seventh in three-point makes (2.3) and ninth in assists (3.5).

Senior forward Zach Henifin is averaging 11.5 points and 5.8 rebounds. He ranks third in the GNAC in steals and 10th in blocked shots (0.8).

Junior guard Richard Woodworth leads the conference in three-point accuracy at 52.3 percent (23-of-44) and is 10th in field-goal percentage at 52.5 (73-of-139). He is averaging 11.0 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.0 assists,

Woodworth scored a career-high 25 points on 9-of-11 shooting at Alaska Fairbanks and had 11 points and eight assists at Alaska Anchorage.

Rounding out the first five is junior center Chris Mitchell, who is averaging 6.6 points and shooting 42.5 percent (17-of-40) from three-point range. He scored a career-high 20 points at Alaska Fairbanks.

Three top reserves have been junior guard Rico Wilkins (8.4 ppg), junior forward Paul Jones (7.0 ppg, 4.4 rpg) and senior center Dan Young, third in the GNAC in blocked shots at 1.6.

²ÝÁñÉçÇø leads the GNAC in field-goal shooting (49.0, 546-of-1115) and steals (9.9 avg.) and is second in rebound margin (5.6) and blocks (4.3).

In addition to being on television, the contest also can be heard live on KPUG Radio (1170 AM - www.kpug1170.com) with Doug Lange handling the play-by-play and Mark Scholten providing the color commentary. It also can be viewed on the internet at http://wwu.nmtvsports.com, and live stats are available at http://www.wwuvikings.com/multimedia/livestats.html.