MONMOUTH, Ore. – In the final game of the 2014 WOU/Doubletree by Hilton D2 Shootout, Western Oregon University's men's basketball team led for all but 98 seconds in the Wolves' 62-54 victory over Colorado Christian University Saturday inside the New PE Building.

Senior Lewis Thomas, who was named as a member of the All-Tournament Team,  led Western Oregon with a double-double that featured 11 points and a game-high 12 rebounds, while fellow senior Marwan Sarhan provided 11 points off WOU's bench to go along with an 11-point effort by junior Jordan Wiley. Junior Andy Avgi also provided 10 points for Western Oregon, while junior Julian Nichols chipped in with six points, seven rebounds, and a team-high four assists.

For Colorado Christian, Michael Brown led the way for the Cougars with a game-high 17 points to go along with an 11-point night by Tyler Shields. On the boards, CCU was led by Joey Trinkle and Zach McLemore with six rebounds each, while Brown handed out a game-high seven assists.

"Tonight's overall performance was solid," said Head Coach Brady Bergeson. "I really liked our defensive performance in particular. We stuck to our principles, stuck to the game plan, and it paid off in the long haul. Some holes offensively are where we didn't do a good job taking care of the basketball. That was the most glaring obvious note offensively, but we got a lot of shots, and we shared the basketball, so we did some good things."

Colorado Christian would score the game's opening points 18 seconds into the contest before Western Oregon used a 13-2 run over a span of four minutes to pull ahead by nine points (13-4) on a three-pointer by Wiley with 15:41 on the clock. The visiting Cougars would use a 17-10 run over a span of five-plus minutes to get within two points (23-21) on a free throw by David Whitmore with just over nine minutes left. Western Oregon would score the final 10 points of the first half, as the Wolves took a 33-21 lead into halftime.

The second half would begin with Colorado Christian scoring 12 of the first 15 points to get within three points (36-33) on a fast break lay-in by Brown with just under 16 minutes left. After a WOU timeout, the Wolves scored four unanswered points to pull ahead 40-33 on a pair of free throws by Avgi with 12:39 on the clock. Western Oregon would push its lead to 44-36 before CCU used an 11-4 run over a span of five minutes to get within a single point (48-47) on a jumper by Brown with 5:37 left. That would be as close as Western Oregon would allow the Cougars to get, as the Wolves used a 14-4 run over a span of three minutes to go ahead by 11 points (62-51) on a three-pointer by junior Devon Alexander with just over two minutes left. A three-pointer by CCU's Brown would cap the game's scoring, as neither team added points to the scoreboard over the final 103 seconds for the final score of 62-54 in favor of the home team.

As a team, Western Oregon combined to shoot 23-for-52 (44.2%) from the field that included a 6-for-19 (31.6%) showing from beyond the three-point line to go along with a 10-for-14 (71.4%) performance at the free throw line. On the other hand, Colorado Christian was a combined 19-for-50 (38.0%) from the field, 8-for-23 (34.8%) from long distance, and 8-for-10 (80.0%) at the charity stripe.

Western Oregon returns to the hardwood on Tuesday, November 25, against Dixie State University beginning at 7:30 p.m. MT in St. George, Utah.
 

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2014 WOU/Doubletree by Hilton D2 Shootout All-Tournament Team

Troy Leaf, Azusa Pacific University (MVP)

Will Ward, Azusa Pacific University

Lewis Thomas, Western Oregon University

Michael Brown, Colorado Christian University

Trey Ingram, Saint Martin's University

 

2014 WOU/Doubletree by Hilton D2 Shootout Results
Game #1 - Colorado Christian 63, Saint Martin's 53	BOX SCORE
Game #2 - Azusa Pacific 81, Western Oregon 74	BOX SCORE
Game #3 - Azusa Pacific 86, Saint Martin's 69	BOX SCORE
Game #4 - Western Oregon 62, Colorado Christian 54	BOX SCORE