Men's Basketball | 2/2/2012 10:08:00 PM

Box Score [Box score]

MONMOUTH, Ore. - The No. 16 Western Washington Vikings bombed the WOU men's basketball team into submission Thursday (Feb. 2) as they hit 12-of-16 three-pointers to earn an 89-81 overtime victory.

The Wolves (14-7, 7-5 GNAC) built a three-point lead early in the extra period on back-to-back layups by Blair Wheadon, but the Vikings (19-3, 10-1 GNAC) then scored 12 of the next 13 points, including all 10 of their free throw attempts to earn the road win.

Kyle Long had a season-best 26 points for the Wolves, including the equalizing layup with 5.6 seconds remaining to send the game to overtime. He finished the game 11-of-18 from the field with four steals and four rebounds. Wheadon scored 17 of his 23 points after halftime, and also had four steals.

John Allen led five Vikings in double figures with 19 points. He hit 5-of-7 shots from behind the arc and helped the Vikings connect on all seven of their first half attempts, and their first eight of the game, as they built their lead to as many as 14 points, but they could just not put WOU away.

The Wolves showed heart and determination throughout the game, but especially late in the second half, as they fought off every Vikings' charge and eventually sent the game to overtime. They used a 14-2 run over the final five minutes of the game, which was capped by Long's layup, to force the game to extra time. During that run WOU forced the Vikings into three turnovers and held them to 0-of-10 shooting to fuel their late comeback.

Overtime would not treat the Wolves as kindly, as they missed their next seven shots after Wheadon's layups, and 3-of-4 free throws as the Vikings outscored them 13-5 in the extra five minutes. 

Despite being outscored by 24 points from 3-point range by the Vikings, Western Oregon was able to hang in the game by taking care of the ball. WOU had just five turnovers in the game compared to 21 for the GNAC-leading Vikings. This allowed the Wolves to put up 17 more shots and outscore the Vikings 25-8 in points off turnovers. But in the end WWU's nine-point advantage at the charity stripe and 45-28 edge on the glass that proved to be the difference.

Western Oregon will look to snap out of this midseason funk on Saturday (Feb. 4) when they host the Simon Fraser Clan at 2:00 p.m.