Men's Basketball | 1/17/2013 9:30:00 PM
Box Score MONMOUTH, Ore. – The Western Oregon men's basketball team battled back from double-digit deficits on several occasions; however, No. 3 Western Washington managed to find an answer every time as the Wolves fell to the Vikings, 91-81, in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference contest on Thursday night. With the loss, WOU fell to 7-7 on the season, 2-4 in league play, as the Vikings improved to 15-0 overall and 6-0 in conference action.
The WWU duo of John Allen and Paul Jones proved to be too much for the Wolves as the pair combined for 65 points. Allen led the Vikings with 38 points on 15-of-21 from the field while Jones added 27 points on 12-of-16 from the floor.
WOU hung tough throughout against the defending national champions as
Kolton Nelson came off the bench to lead the Wolves with 21 points.
Devon Alexander added 20 while
Andy Avgi scored 15 as the Wolves shot 29-of-63 (46.0 percent) from the field. The Wolves forced 22 Viking turnovers as
Jordan Wiley led all players with six steals.
The Vikings managed to overcome the mistakes by shooting 52.1 percent from the field and 40.0 percent from behind the arc and used an 18-9 advantage on the offensive glass to hold a 16-6 edge in second chance points.
WWU got off to a fast start as WWU opened up a 32-16 lead with nine minutes remaining in the first half. WOU would respond by chipping away at the lead to pull within nine at 46-37 with one minute remaining in the first half; however, the Vikings answered by scoring the final five points of the half, capped off by an 85-foot heave by Paul Jones at the buzzer to give WWU a 51-37 edge at the break.
Trailing by 14 to open the second half, WOU quickly made it a game once again, using a 7-0 run to cut the lead to seven with 17:00 minutes remaining. After WWU extended the lead back to double digits, WOU would make one final push as Alexander's three-pointer with 7:38 remaining cut the lead to 71-65. The Vikings would not let the Wolves draw any closer, however, as WWU would go on to claim the 10-point victory.
WOU will look to rebound from the loss when the Wolves return to action on Saturday, Jan. 19, when they face Simon Fraser at 7:30 p.m.
