Men's Basketball | 1/8/2011 9:00:40 PM

Box Score [Box score]

MONMOUTH, Ore. - Kyle Long and Blair Wheadon each scored 23 points to lead Western Oregon to an 84-81 overtime win against Western Washington on Saturday (Jan. 8).

The Wolves (9-7, 4-2 GNAC) led throughout much of the game before the Vikings (8-4, 3-1 GNAC) fought back and sent the game to overtime on Casey Mitchell's 3-pointer with 2.5 seconds left in regulation.

In the overtime period, the Vikings scored the first basket before the Wolves scored six of the next seven points to grab the lead. However, that was short lived as a Rory Blanche dunk with 1:26 left put the Vikings up by one (82-81). WOU then turned up the defensive pressure and forced WWU into turnovers on back-to-back possessions with less than 45 seconds remaining. Tarance Glynn sealed the game with two breakaway layups in the final 18 seconds.

Long and Wheadon each hit seven shots from the field. Wheadon also went 9-of-10 at the free throw line to go along with four assists, seven steals and just one turnover. Long hit all six of his shots at the line, added three steals and had the Wolves' only three-point baskets of the game.

"They are our veterans," said Stanger about the junior guard duo of Wheadon and Long. "This is their team and it shows. I couldn't be more proud of their attitude and their resiliency."

Jordan Freelander came through with 10 points for the Wolves, including an acrobatic layup for the Wolves' first basket in overtime. Kris White added nine points off the bench, as he went 3-of-4 from the field. Glynn scored four of his seven points in the extra period and hauled in a team-leading eight rebounds.

Western Washington dominated the glass. It outrebounded WOU 53-39, including 21-8 on the offensive glass. The Vikings' defense also racked up nine blocks, led by Dan Young with three.

"We were very concerned about offensive rebounds because of their size," noted Stanger. "We had to get to the free throw line against that advantage (their size)."

And that the Wolves did, as they went to the charity stripe 24 times and made 21 free throws. WOU also forced WWU into 22 turnovers, to help neutralize the Vikings' size advantage.

"The guys believe in what we are doing," said Stanger. "Defensively Western Washington never solved our 1-3-1 and we were able to get a lot of steals and deflections out of it."

"The pressure was on them as the higher ranked team so we just played our form of basketball," continued Stanger.

Western Oregon led by as many as 10 points in the first period and took a six-point advantage into halftime (47-41). After the break, WWU continued to battle back and took a two-point lead (63-61) on Zach Henifin's trey with 7:17 remaining. After an exchange of baskets, WWU led 66-65 with 5:54 left in regulation. The Wolves' defense then responded by holding the Vikings without a point for the next four minutes to take a six point lead. WWU then got a layup from Michael Duty and a 3-pointer from Shedrick Nelson on consecutive possessions to cut the Wolves' lead to one. WOU was then held without a basket on its next possession, giving WWU a chance to take the lead. John Allen drove the lane but his shot fell short and the Wolves were about to get the ball to Glynn ahead of the pack for a dunk to put them up by three with 16 seconds left. The Vikings called a timeout to set up for the final play. They barely beat the five-second count on the inbound, before they were about to swing it to Mitchell on the side for the contested trey.

Michael Duty led all scorers in the game 27 points, and he also pulled down nine boards.

Western Oregon's next game will be Tuesday, Jan. 11, in Lacey, Wash., as the Wolves will take on Saint Martin's at 7:00 p.m., on Fox Sports Northwest.