Box Score Burnaby, BC – Kicking off conference play at home, the Simon Fraser University men's basketball team fell to the defending NCAA champions who are currently ranked sixth in the country, the Western Washington University Vikings, 93-76

“What we learned today is to buckle down on defence," said forward David Gebru (Seattle, WA).  "If we're going to win, we can't trade buckets. Also, we can't get beat on the glass like we were tonight.  After we end a good defensive possession, we have to finish it off with the rebound.”

Hitting the boards played a key role in SFU's loss as they were outrebounded 39-28 by WWU including being doubled in offensive rebounds 14-7.

Gebru had his highest scoring night of the season, leading all players with 34 points.

Milos Milosevic (Bar, Montenegro) and Matt Raivio (Vancouver, WA) both chipped in 11 points apiece.  Milosevic earned his double-digits in his first game as a Clan member, after missing last season with an injury.

“It feels great to be playing for SFU and getting to have so many people watch and support you," said Milosevic. "The loud crowd gives you more excitement and energy to play.”

Richard Woodworth led the Vikings with 19 points while John Allen and Paul Jones added 16 each. Jones also grabbed 11 rebounds for WWU.

The Clan fought hard against the number six ranked Vikings, tying the score on two occasions and taking the lead once in the first half.

Working off a deep three-pointer from Elijah Matthews (Washington, DC), SFU led WWU 10-8 with 16:20 remaining in the opening half.

The Vikings battled back, regaining the lead and taking a 41-34 advantage into the locker rooms at the half.

Gebru came out recharged starting the second half with six points early on to bring SFU within three of WWU.

However, Gebru's aggressiveness was not enough as the Vikings took off on a 12-3 run to push their lead to 14.

Two converted free throws by Milosevic brought SFU within 13 of the Vikings with 5:11 left to play but that was as close as the Clan would come to victory as WWU did not let up, leaving the Clan with a 17 point loss.

The defeat puts SFU at an 0-1 record in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference and 5-2 overall.

The team's annual Red Night drew an energetic crowd of nearly 700 screaming Clan fans and included a halftime ceremoney honour former head coach Stan Stewardson.

“We feed off the crowd. When they're into it, we're into it. We need fans to keep coming to the games and doing what they did today. We'll keep getting better and have better outcomes,” finished Gebru.

SFU will next embark on a two-game road trip through California where they'll face Dominican University on December 17 and Academy of Art University on December 19 to finish out the non-conference portion of their schedule.