Men's Basketball | 12/1/2011 9:54:00 PM

Box Score [Box score]

ELLENSBURG, Wash. - Western Oregon scored the final six points of the game to defeat Central Washington on the road 77-75 on Thursday (Dec. 1) in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference opener for both teams.

Central Washington led 75-71 with 1:57 remaining in the game before Western Oregon's Kyle Long hit a 3-pointer to pull the Wolves within one. After a defensive stand, Long assisted on the go-ahead basket to Kolton Nelson with 40 seconds remaining, giving WOU the one point lead (76-75). The Wildcats tried to answer with a 3-pointer from Lacy Haddock with four seconds remaining but his shot fell off the rim and James Gehring grabbed the board to seal the win.

Kolton Nelson led all scorers with 23 points. He hit 10-of-14 shots from the field, including all three from behind the arc, and pulled down six rebounds. The Wolves also got 14 points apiece from Blair Wheadon and Kyle Long. Long also chipped in with four assists.

Brandon Magee led the Wildcats with 17 points on 6-of-11 shooting.

Western Oregon led nearly the whole first half, going up by as many as nine points, and took a 42-37 lead into halftime. CWU would grab its first lead of the second half at the 16:21 mark thanks to an 11-2 run. The Wildcats would not relinquish that advantage until Western Oregon closed out the game with a 6-0 run.

The win was the sixth straight for Western Oregon who is now 6-1 on the season. The loss snaps a four-game winning streak for Central Washington who fell to 4-2 (0-1 GNAC).

Western Oregon will now travel to Nampa, Idaho to take on Northwest Nazarene on Saturday (Dec. 3) at 6:00 p.m.