SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – Western Oregon University's men's basketball team closed out its three-game Thanksgiving holiday road trip unbeaten following a wire-to-wire win over Academy of Art University, 83-73, Saturday inside Kexar Pavilion.

The Wolves jumped out to a 10-0 lead over the opening three minutes and never looked back extending their lead to as much as 21 points midway through the second half, as Western Oregon pushed its winning streak to four games by a combined average margin of 11 points.

"It's good to get the reward of winning on the road for the hard work that's being put in by our players," said Head Coach Brady Bergeson. "We fought hard and sustained efforts even as they threw haymakers at us over the final six minutes."

Western Oregon (5-2) was led offensively by junior Julian Nichols with a season and career-high 26 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the field to go along with a 13-for-14 performance at the free throw line. Three other Wolves – junior Andy Avgi, senior Lewis Thomas, and senior Marwan Sarhan – also scored in double figures with 16, 12, and 12 points, respectively. On the boards, Avgi and Thomas pulled down a team-leading and game-high tying seven rebounds each to go along with four assists each by Nichols and junior Jordan Wiley.

Academy of Art (2-4) got 17 points by Alexis Moore, while Jase Harrison and Uchenna Okeneme also scored in double figures with 15 and 11 points, respectively. Moore tied Avgi and Thomas with a game-high seven rebounds, while also handing out a game-high seven assists.

With just over 17 minutes left in the opening half, Western Oregon concluded a game-opening 10-0 run with a pair of free throws by Thomas. Two minutes later, Nichols helped WOU increase its lead to 18-4 following a fast break lay-in by Nichols with 15:29 on the clock. AAU would pull within eight points (20-12) on a lay-in by Tyler Sabino with 12:55 left before Western Oregon closed out the first half outscoring AAU by two points that included a fast break lay-in by freshman Nick Nestell in the final seconds for a 38-28 lead at halftime.

The Wolves would begin the second half on a 6-0 run over the opening four minutes en route to pushing their lead to 16 points (44-28) after a pair of free throws by Avgi. Four minutes later, Western Oregon secured its aforementioned 21-point lead (53-32) on a three-pointer by junior Devon Alexander for WOU's largest lead of the afternoon. At the 8:45 mark, Avgi connected on a lay-in that gave WOU a 57-37 lead before Academy of Art used an 28-15 run over a span of six-plus minutes to pull within seven points (72-65) on a lay-in by Okeneme with just over two minutes left. That would be as close as Western Oregon would allow AAU to get, as the Wolves were a perfect 6-for-6 at the free throw line over the final minutes resulting in an 83-73 victory for WOU.

As a team, Western Oregon combined to shoot 25-for-51 (49.0%) from the field that included a 54.2% (13-for-24) clip in the second half. The Wolves were also a combined 4-for-13 (30.8%) from beyond the three-point line and 29-for-33 (87.9%) at the free throw line. On the other hand, Academy of Art was a combined 28-for-65 (43.1%) from the field, 10-of-19 (52.6%) from long distance, and 7-of-11 (63.6%) at the charity stripe.

Western Oregon returns to the hardwood on Thursday, December 4, in the Wolves' Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) opener against the University of Alaska beginning at 7:00 p.m. inside the New PE Building in Monmouth.