Men's Basketball | 1/4/2014 5:01:00 PM

Box Score

MONMOUTH, Ore. -- The Western Oregon University men's basketball team won its sixth straight game in a 98-90 double-overtime victory over Montana State University Billings, behind a career-high 27 points from Rodney Webster.

Webster was one of several Wolves (10-4, 3-1 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) that played the hero role in Saturday's win. The senior was 7-of-14 from the field and made 12 of his 14 free throw attempts. He added four assists and a pair of steals.

Webster sent the game into overtime with a pair of free throws with three seconds remaining in regulation, and then tied the game with his lone three-pointer with seven seconds left in the first overtime.

"We played together as a team," Webster said. "It was real tough, and a big test for us. Coach always preaches to finish practices strong and finish games strong, and that's what we did tonight. We just never gave up."

Western Oregon won its first overtime game of the season, and fourth under Head Coach Brady Bergeson.

"Grit was the word our guys used in the locker room after the game," Bergeson said. "We talk about it a lot, and our guys really showed it tonight. I give Montana State Billings a ton of credit, that's a really good team. They're getting a lot better, as are we. I'm extremely proud of our guys and how they fought."

Both teams finished with six players scoring double-digits. Marwan Sarhan's double-digit scoring streak continued to 13 games with 15 points. Jordan Wiley had 14 points, Lewis Thomas scored 13, and Andy Avgi and Devon Alexander chipped in 11 and 10. Alexander dished out six assists and made three steals. Thomas and Jordan Schriber both grabbed seven rebounds.

As a team, WOU made 31 of its 70 shots from the field. It was also 9-of-27 from behind-the-arc. After making 3-of-7 from the free throw line in the first half, the Wolves made 24 of their next 29 attempts from the charity stripe. Western Oregon had a 51-37 edge in rebounds.

The game featured 12 ties and nine lead changes. Seven minutes into the game, the Yellowjackets had their largest advantage in the first half at 13-8. A 9-0 run by the Wolves gave the home team the lead for the rest of the period. WOU continued its run and built an 11-point advantage with 5:48 left in the half.  MSU Billings made a 9-1 run and trailed 32-29 at halftime.

The Wolves built their lead back to seven points two minutes into the second half. MSUB chipped away at the lead and took a 47-45 lead with 12:30 remaining in regulation. Over the final 12 minutes of play the lead changed several times, with the margin never greater than four, and the game was tied six times.

Western Oregon never led in the first overtime. Both teams scored 10 points in the first opening extra period, which featured two more ties, and a margin that was no larger than one possession. Conversely, the Wolves led for the entirety of the second overtime, outscoring MSUB 12-4 in the period.

Western Oregon held a 36-28 edge in the paint, and turned 17 offensive rebounds into 17 points. WOU also outscored the Yellowjackets, 43-24, off of the bench. MSU Billings had a 20-14 advantage in points off of turnovers.

Chase Miller led the Yellowjackets with 18 points off of the bench. He finished 4-of-8 from three-point range. Kalob Hatcher added 16 points and seven assists. Devon Wallace scored 15 points and had a game-high eight assists. Connor Donaldson also chipped in 15 points. Jonathan Mesghna and Austin Hudson both totaled 10 points. Three MSUB players had five rebounds.

Montana State Billings (6-6, 2-2 GNAC) finished 38.9 percent from the field. It was 12-of-34 from behind-the-arc and 22-for-26 from the free throw line. MSUB had an 18-12 advantage in assists, and committed 14 turnovers to the Wolves' 15.

Western Oregon will look to build on its conference-long win streak when it travels to Northwest Nazarene Thursday. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. Mountain Time. Live video and stats will be available on WOUWolves.com.

MSU Billings vs Western Oregon
01/04/14 2 p.m. at Monmouth, OR
At Monmouth, OR
WESTERN OREGON 98, MSU BILLINGS 90
MSU BILLINGS (6-6, 2-2 GNAC)
Miller,Chase 6-11 2-2 18; Hatcher,Kalob 3-10 8-8 16; Wallace,Devon 5-9 3-4
15; Donaldson,Connor 6-15 0-2 15; Hudson,Austin 3-6 4-4 10; Mesghan,Jonathan
4-19 1-2 10; Nelson,Tyler 1-2 4-4 6; Matthews,Marc 0-0 0-0 0; Desin,Danny
0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-72 22-26 90.
WESTERN OREGON (10-4, 3-1 GNAC)
Webster,Rodney 7-14 12-14 27; Sarhan,Marwan 4-8 7-8 15; Wiley,Jordan 5-11
2-4 14; Thomas,Lewis 5-8 0-0 13; Avgi,Andy 4-6 3-6 11; Alexander,Devon 3-8
2-2 10; Hastings,Adam 2-6 1-2 5; Sabic,Mirza 1-8 0-0 3; Schriber,Jordan 0-1
0-0 0; Johnson,Drew 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 31-70 27-36 98.
MSU Billings..................   29   47   10    4  -   90
Western Oregon................   32   44   10   12  -   98
3-point goals--MSU Billings 12-34 (Miller,Chase 4-8; Donaldson,Connor 3-9;
Hatcher,Kalob 2-2; Wallace,Devon 2-3; Mesghan,Jonathan 1-12), Western Oregon
9-27 (Thomas,Lewis 3-4; Alexander,Devon 2-4; Wiley,Jordan 2-6; Sabic,Mirza
1-7; Webster,Rodney 1-5; Avgi,Andy 0-1). Fouled out--MSU
Billings-Hudson,Austin; Wallace,Devon; Nelson,Tyler, Western
Oregon-Thomas,Lewis; Alexander,Devon. Rebounds--MSU Billings 37
(Hatcher,Kalob 5; Mesghan,Jonathan 5; Wallace,Devon 5), Western Oregon 51
(Thomas,Lewis 7; Schriber,Jordan 7). Assists--MSU Billings 18 (Wallace,Devon
8), Western Oregon 12 (Alexander,Devon 6). Total fouls--MSU Billings 25,
Western Oregon 21. Technical fouls--MSU Billings-TEAM, Western
Oregon-None. A-389