Men's Basketball | 1/29/2014 4:04:00 PM

MSUB GAME NOTES (PDF)        SPU GAME NOTES (PDF)

MONMOUTH, Ore. -- The Western Oregon University men's basketball team seeks to end its five-game losing streak at Montana State University Billings Thursday and No. 20 Seattle Pacific University Saturday.

LAST TIME OUT
• Alaska used a 21-3 run to close out a 60-54 come-from-behind victory at Western Oregon last Saturday.
• The Nanooks trailed by 14 points with 7:30 remaining in regulation, but scored 21 of the game's final 24 points.
• In the final eight minutes, Alaska held WOU to 1-of-10 shooting, while it made 7-of-13, and had a 13-3 edge in rebounds.
• The Nanooks only led for two minutes in a game that featured three ties and six lead changes.
• Jordan Wiley led WOU with a season-high 16 points.

WESTERN OREGON STORYLINES
• After winning six straight games, Western Oregon has lost five consecutive contests.
• The Wolves are seventh in NCAA Div. II with a 181 total steal. Their 9.5 steals per game is 10th in the nation. Both stats lead the conference.
• Devon Alexander leads the conference with 35 total steals. His 1.84 steals per outing is third in the GNAC. Rodney Webster is fifth at 1.63.
• Marwan Sarhan is fourth in the GNAC with a 58.5 FG percentage.
• The Wolves are 8-1 this season when they have a better field goal percentage than their opponent this season, and 9-0 when they shoot 50 percent of better.

ABOUT THE YELLOWJACKETS
• Montana State Billings enters the game after dropping its last two games, and has won two of its last six.
• The Yellowjackets fell at home against Seattle Pacific in double overtime in their last game.
• MSUB is third in the conference in scoring defense, holding opponents to just 73.1 points per game.
• Kalob Hatcher is sixth in NCAA Div. II with 7.1 assists per game.
• Division I transfer Jonathan Mesghna leads one of four Yellowjackes averaging double-digits with 14.2 points per outing.

SERIES HISTORY
• Western Oregon and MSU Billings meet for the 18th time.
• MSUB has won 11 of the 17 meetings in a series that is 15 years old.
• WOU snapped Montana State Billings' four-game win streak in the series with a 98-90 double overtime win in Monmouth earlier this season.
• The Wolves are 1-7 all-time at MSU Billings, with the lone win coming on Feb. 14, 2008, 83-66.

ABOUT THE FALCONS
• Seattle Pacific entered the season as the preseason favorite to win the conference, and currently is atop the standings.
• The Falcons have won five straight games by an average of 15.6 points.
• SPU's four losses were by a combined 13 points.
• Seattle Pacific's lone home loss was by two in overtime to Dixie State.
• The Falcons have won 12 straight conference games at home.
• SPU turned the ball over just four times in its 50-minute double-overtime win at Montana State Billings last Saturday, one off the GNAC single-game record for fewest turnovers in a conference game
• SPU is third in the country averaging only 8.8 turnovers per game.

SERIES HISTORY
• Western Oregon and Seattle Pacific meet for the 53rd time.
• The series dates back to a WOU 67-58 win in 1949.
• The Wolves last won at SPU in 2010, 88-85.
• Nine of the last 10 meetings have been decided by single digits.

NEXT UP...
• WOU welcomes Central Washington on Feb. 6. Tipoff is at 7:30 p.m.
• The Wildcats won the first meeting this season in double overtime.
• Live video and stats will be on WOUWolves.com.