Men's Basketball | 1/29/2011 10:04:13 PM

Box Score [Box score]

MONMOUTH, Ore. - For the Wolves, Saturday's 77-59 loss to Seattle Pacific was a tale of two halves.

After building a 35-26 lead at the half, the Wolves (11-10, 6-5 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) saw their nine-point margin quickly evaporate with the start of the second period. The Falcons (13-5, 7-3 GNAC) scored 23 of the first 36 points in the second half to go on top. However, they would not be satisfied with the slim lead as they scored 11 straight points to go on top 73-57 and go on to outscore the WOU by 27 points in the second half en route to the 77-59 win. The Wolves would score just two points in the final 6:28 to squash any hope of a comeback.

"We held our own in the first half and even in the second we did some good things," Western Oregon head coach Craig Stanger explained. "We broke down when they stepped up their defense and we began taking ill advised shots and turning the ball over."

Blair Wheadon led Western Oregon with 14 points. Tarance Glynn barely missed a double-double with 11 points and team-leading nine rebounds. Jamaal Veal came off the bench and scored all 10 of his points in the opening stanza.

Ryan Sweet paced SPU with 25 points on 11-of-16 shooting. Andy Poling added a double-double by scoring 15 points and pulling down 10 boards.

Western Oregon was able to build its lead in the first half thanks to valuing the basketball. The Wolves committed just six turnovers in the opening period while forcing SPU into 11. But in the second half this ratio reversed. WOU turned the ball over 10 times, while the Falcons gave the ball away only three times.

WOU also was unable to take advantage of its chances at the charity stripe. The Wolves converted on just 5-of-12 free throws, and only 2-of-8 in the second half. Meanwhile, the Falcons made 64.3 percent of their shots from the field in the second half (18-of-28) and 54.7 percent in the game.

The Wolves will get back on the court Thursday, Feb. 3, at Western Washington.