SAN DIEGO, Calif. – In its first game of the 2014-15 season, Western Oregon University's men's basketball team fell to the reigning National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) National Champions Point Loma Nazarene, 64-54, in the second game of the GNAC/PacWest Challenge Friday inside Golden Gymnasium.

The Wolves (0-1) were led offensively by preseason All-GNAC team selection Andy Avgi with a game-high 15 points, while Lewis Thomas added 11 points for WOU. Julian Nichols and Jordan Wiley also added seven and six points, respectively, while Thomas pulled down a game-high tying six rebounds for Western Oregon. Nichols also handed out a game-high tying seven assists to go along with three steals each by Avgi and Wiley.

Point Loma Nazarene (1-0) got double-digit outputs from Judd Welfringer, Hayden Lescault, and Sam Okhotin with 11, 10, and 10 points, respectively, while Marek Klassen and Junior Morgan chipped in with nine points each. The Sea Lions were led on the boards by Welfringer with a game-high tying six rebounds, while Lescault tied Nichols with a game-high seven assists.

For the third game in a row, Western Oregon jumped out to an early lead scoring the opening six points en route to the Wolves earning a 6-0 advantage on a lay-in by Avgi with 16:40 left in the first half. WOU would continue to hold the lead at 10-5 on a lay-in by Adam Hastings before PLNU scored five unanswered points within a 82-second span to tie the game at 10-10 with 12:18 on the clock. A 7-0 run by Western Oregon over a span of three minutes would push the Wolves' lead to 17-10 on an old-fashion three-point play by Avgi with 9:30 remaining. At the 6:13 mark, Wiley connected on a lay-in that handed Western Oregon a 21-14 lead before Point Loma Nazarene scored seven straight points to tie the game at 21-21 on back-to-back free throws by Randall Jackson. Avgi would connect on another lay-in with just over three minutes left before PLNU grabbed its first lead of the night on a three-pointer by Klassen with just over two minutes on the clock. Western Oregon would secure a one-point lead (25-24) on an Avgi jumper in the final minute before Point Loma Nazarene scored the final points of the first half via a three-pointer by Lescault for a 27-25 lead at the break.

Within the opening four minutes of the second half, Western Oregon pushed its lead to five points (38-33) on a Thomas three-pointer with just over 16 minutes left in the game. Three minutes later, Avgi would hit a jumper that tied the game at 40-40 before Point Loma Nazarene used a 7-0 run that resulted in a 47-40 lead on a dunk by Zach Burnham with 11:25 on the clock. Back-to-back free throws by Marwan Sarhan at the 11:02 mark would pull the Wolves within five points (47-42), as Western Oregon would not get any closer thanks to a 13-4 run by the Sea Lions that put PLNU ahead by 14 points (60-46) on a jumper by Jackson with just under five minutes left. The Wolves would score six straight points to get within eight points (60-52) only to watch as Point Loma Nazarene closed the game by scoring four of the final six points en route to earning the 64-54 victory.

As a team, Western Oregon combined to shoot 23-for-53 (43.4%) from the field to go along with a 4-for-11 (36.4%) showing from beyond the three-point line and a 4-for-7 (57.1%) performance at the free throw line. On the other hand, Point Loma Nazarene was a combined 24-for-47 (51.1%) from the field that included a 58.3% (14-for-24) performance in the second half. The Sea Lions were also 10-of-19 (52.6%) from long distance and 6-of-9 (66.7%) at the charity stripe.

Western Oregon will close out play at the GNAC/PacWest Challenge tomorrow – Saturday, November 15 – against Fresno Pacific University beginning at 2:00 p.m. inside Golden Gymnasium on the campus of Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego, California.