Men's Basketball | 1/24/2009 5:29:12 PM

Box Score MONMOUTH, Ore. - The Western Oregon University men's basketball team was held without a field goal for nearly eight minutes in the second half during which time Alaska Fairbanks was on a 21-4 run as it went on to win its Great Northwest Athletic Conference road game, 79-76.
 
The loss drops WOU to 1-4 in the GNAC and to 7-9 on the season. With the win Alaska Fairbanks upped its record to 5-10 on the year and to 2-4 in conference.
 
Mike McLaughlin led five Western Oregon scorers in double-figures with 17 points and also grabbed a game-high 16 rebounds. Sam Kelly added 15 points as Stanley Ratcliff notched 12, Matt Schmidt came off the bench with 11 in the first half and Travis Kuhns registered 10. Kuhns also recorded eight assists, his best mark of the season.
 
As a team, the Wolves went just 4 of 13 at the free throw line as the Nanooks got to the charity stripe 22 times and converted on 16 free throws. WOU did shoot 44 percent from the field but made just 6 of its 31 three point attempts including missing five in the final 1:08 of the game.
 
Western Oregon led 43-42 at halftime as Colin Matteson made a three-pointer as time expired to send the Nanooks into the locker room down just one. The second half was a series of runs. WOU got the first basket of the second half but UAF then went on an 8-2 run to grab a 50-47 lead. Western Oregon then responded with an 8-0 run of its own to recapture its largest lead of the game at 57-50.
 
Then UAF got the largest run of the night as it scored 21 of the next 25 points over a span of 7:39 to take a 10 point lead at 71-61. The Wolves, however, had one last run in them as they went on an 11-2 spurt capped off by a Kelly three-pointer with 1:08 remaining, to pull within one point at 73-72. UAF center Mike Anderson, who scored seven of the final eight points for the Nanooks, grabbed an offensive rebound and put it back in for the basket at 75-72. After McLaughlin missed a three-pointer Anderson was fouled and went to the free throw line and sank both shots. After Kelly converted on a lay-up to bring the Wolves within three, WOU had three more three-point attempts to tie the game but each bounced off the rim.
 
WOU was unable to contain the inside duo of Anderson and Nashorn Maynard for the Nanooks as the two combined for 30 points and 21 rebounds on 13 of 19 shooting.
 
Western Oregon did win the rebounding battle 49 to 42 and had assists on 19 of its 33 baskets but was unable to overcome poor shooting percentages from the free throw line and behind the arc.
 
The Western Oregon men's basketball team will be home next Thursday (Jan. 29) when it takes on Seattle Pacific at 7:00 p.m., to close out its three-game homestand.