Men's Basketball | 11/13/2010 5:53:49 PM
Box Score [Box score]
LACEY, Wash. -
Blair Wheadon scored a game-high 26 points on 8-of-18 shooting but it was Hawaii Hilo who came through with an 87-79 win over the Western Oregon men's basketball team on Saturday (Nov. 13), at the GNAC/PacWest Challenge.
The Wolves have now dropped two straight games to open the season for the first time since 2006-07. The win evened the Vulcans' record at 1-1 on the young season.
Western Oregon also got 21 points from
Kyle Long (McMinnville, Ore./McMinnville), as the starting guard duo combined for 47 of the team's 79 points and went 13-of-15 from the charity stripe. Freshman
DeAngelo Davis (Beaverton, Ore./Beaverton) came off the bench to score a career-high 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting.
Justin Smith led the way for Hawaii Hilo with 24 points. He hit 11-of-18 shots and helped the Vulcans connect on 56.7 percent of their shots in the game. UHH was also very good at finding the open man, as it had assists on 24 of its 34 field goals. Andrew Gipson led the way with eight assists, while Lavell Shipman chipped in with seven.
Western Oregon never led in the game. It was a three-point game at the 10:00 mark in the first half before UHH scored eight straight points to push its lead to 11 (24-13). The Vulcans would extend their lead to 16 points in the first half with an 11-0 run and led 37-29 at halftime.
In the second half, the teams played evenly as both scored 50 points. However, the Vulcans did it much more efficiently as they converted on 65.5 percent of their shots (19-of-29) compared to 42.9 percent for the Wolves (15-of-35).
Western Oregon did play much better on the boards than in the season opener, as it outrebounded Hawaii Hilo 40-34, including 19-11 on the offensive glass.
The Western Oregon men's basketball team will now return to Monmouth to host the annual WOU/Phoenix Inn D2 Shootout, Nov. 19-20. The Wolves will open with Dominican on Friday, before taking on Hawaii Pacific on Saturday. Both games will tip-off at 8:00 p.m.
