Host Western Washington University saw a 21-point lead slip away, then rallied in the final minutes and claimed an 84-70 victory over arch-rival Central Washington University in a NCAA Division II Men's Basketball West Regional first-round game Friday before a crowd of 2,314 on Haggen Court at Sam Carver Gymnasium.

Guard Morris Anderson scored a game-high 23 points as the Vikings, ranked No.15 in the final regular-season National Association of Basketball Coaches/NCAA II Top 25 Poll and the No.1 seed in the region, improved to 26-5.

Western, which is 14-1 at home, faces Cal Poly Pomona in a regional semifinal at 7 p.m. Saturday. The Broncos, the defending regional champion, defeated Dixie State, 71-62.

Read the full story on the WWU Athletics Department Web site.

The NCAA Division II men's regional tournament at Western Washington University is under way, with BYU-Hawaii knocking off Seattle Pacific University 76-72 in the opening game.

Humboldt State University is playing CSU San Bernardino in the 2:30 p.m. game, and Dixie State University will take on Cal Poly Pomona at 5:30.

Top-seeded Western Washington University takes the court at 7:30 against arch-rival Central Washington University.

Host and No. 1 seed Western Washington University will play arch-rival and No. 8 seed Central Washington University in the final game of today's opening round at the West Regional of the NCAA Division II National Men's Basketball Tournament being held on Haggen Court at Sam Carver Gymnasium.

The Vikings, 25-5 overall, are 13-1 at home this season. Central is 16-10. The contest is scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. tipoff.

The Western-Central game can be heard on KBAI (930 AM) Radio. For a tournament bracket as well as information on each game, click here.

In other first round action, No. 3 seed and Great Northwest Athletic Conference champion Seattle Pacific (22-5) plays No. 6 seed and Pacific West Conference co-champion BYU Hawaii (20-5) at 12:30 p.m., No. 2 seed and California Collegiate Athletic Association tournament champion Cal State San Bernardino (22-7) meets No. 7 seed Humboldt State (22-7) at 2:30 p.m., and No. 4 seed Cal Poly Pomona (22-6) plays No. 5 seed Dixie State (20-5) at 5:30 p.m.

The Ross Engineering Technology building, named for former Western Washington University President G. Robert Ross (1983-1987), was completed in 1987. The building houses most of the offices, classrooms and labs for the Engineering Technology department.

The Western Gallery will present "Critical Messages: Northwest Artists on the Environment” from April 12 through May 29.

The work of 26 artists from Washington, Oregon, British Columbia, Idaho, and California will be showcased in this exhibition that has been organized around eight environmental issues facing the Pacific Northwest: growth, waste management, production and consumption, transportation, wilderness and wetland preservation, biodiversity, climate change, and energy.

Multiple types of media will be featured in the show, including painting, sculpture, photography and other crafts.

“Contemporary artists are at the forefront of critical dialogues about social, political, and environmental issues. Although the artists in Western’s show cannot be labeled as environmentalists, this is one subject from many contemporary themes with which they work,” said Sarah Clark-Langager, director of the Western Gallery and curator of the exhibit. “The show gives several messages, some hard-hitting, some ambiguous, just like the environmental issues themselves.”

Organized by the Western Gallery in conjunction with the Hallie Ford Museum of Art at Willamette University, the exhibition was the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) award. Following its time at the Western Gallery, the exhibition will travel to Willamette University and the Boise Art Museum. Accompanying the exhibition is a...

A few weeks of late-winter sun have spurred trees and plants throughout campus to begin bursting into bloom earlier than normal. Weather forecasters expect a return to cloudy, cooler weather this week, however, with temperatures staying in the high 40s and low 50s.

Jonathan Addleton, the U.S. ambassador to Mongolia, visited Western’s campus on Thursday, March 4. He met with Western faculty, staff and students and toured the campus.

“We were pleased to welcome Ambassador Addleton to the Western campus and to share with him some of the innovative teaching and research activities taking place here in International Studies generally and with specific regard to Mongolia,” said Doug Nord, director of Western’s Center for International Studies.

Ambassador Addleton viewed Western’s current work in International Studies and East Asian Studies and visited a class on Mongolian language offered by Professor Ed Vajda. This introductory class (35 students) represents the largest number of students studying Mongolian at any university in the United States. Funding for this course comes via a Title VI grant ($175,000) from U.S. Department of Education’s Undergraduate International Education and Foreign Language Program that the Center for International Studies received this past August to enhance international studies offerings and foreign language courses on campus. The title of the grant is “Entering the Global Community: Enhancing Student and Faculty Involvement in Asia-Pacific Studies.”

The ambassador also visited Western Libraries, which houses the...

Philip Chicola, Consul General, U.S. Consulate, Vancouver, B.C., talks during a seminar Wednesday at Western on “Vancouver 2010 Update: The Regional Impact of the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games.” The seminar, attended by scholars and officials from both Canada and the United States, discussed the impacts and legacy of the Olympic and Paralympic games, and was the fourth in a series of town-gown programs looking at critical border, trade and security issues affecting the Pacific Northwest. Also pictured are Brian Burton, seminar moderator and dean of Western’s College of Business and Economics, and Bellingham Mayor Dan Pike. The seminar was hosted by WWU’s Center for Canadian-American Studies, Border Policy Research Institute, the Ross Professorship, and the Consulate General of Canada in Seattle.