Men's Basketball | 1/6/2009 6:38:52 PM
Box Score PROVO, Utah - The Western Oregon University men's basketball team jumped out to an early 11-0 lead on hometown BYU but in the end it could not hold off the Cougars and fell 85-64, Tuesday, Jan. 6.
The Wolves (6-5) hit five of their first six shots to jump out in front before the first media timeout. Western Oregon continued to hold the lead midway through the first but BYU (12-2) used a 23-8 run to close the half and take a 42-33 lead into the locker room.
In the second half, WOU shot 38.2 percent from the field compared to 51.7 percent for BYU but still managed to pull within 10 on a Stanley Ratcliff jumper with 6:26 remaining. This time the Cougars closed the half on a 19-6 run to seal the win.
"We hung with them all night and didn't go away," said WOU head coach Craig Stanger. "I was pleased with our focus and the team played well. This is a good building block heading into conference play."
Travis Kuhns led Western Oregon student-athletes with 15 points as he went 4-of-7 from behind the arc. Mike McLaughlin posted a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds. Ratcliff put up 12 points as he went 6-of-7 from the field. Blair Wheadon was the team-leader with four assists.
Western Oregon was hurt by a 15 point disadvantage at the free throw line as BYU made 22-of-29 shots from the charity stripe compared to just 7-of-13 for WOU. The Wolves did hang with the Cougars on the boards only losing the category 43 to 36. Western Oregon even led the rebounding battle 21-20 at the half.
"I was pleased with the job we did on the boards" explained Stanger. "Our guys competed out there."
The Western Oregon men's basketball team will now return home to face Saint Martin's (12-2) in its Great Northwest Athletic Conference opener Saturday, Jan. 10, at 7:30 p.m.
