Written by Matthew Rawlings, SID Intern

MONMOUTH, Ore. – Western Oregon University extended its home winning streak to nine games with an 82-68 Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) victory over conference rival Saint Martin's University Saturday inside the New PE Building.

"Tonight's win feels good," said Head Coach Brady Bergson. "We are very focused on getting better and being detailed with our approach. I thought that our guys executed well and accomplished that."

Western Oregon (14-3, 6-1 GNAC) was led offensively by junior Jordan Wiley with 21 points, shooting 5-for-9 from behind the arc and a perfect 6-for-6 at the free throw line.

When asked about his performance, Wiley stated, "It felt good. The ball was going in tonight so that is always nice. We have a nice zone play that gets me open quite a bit and (Saint Martin's) was shagging off a little bit resulting in a 2-on-1 on the back side that turns into a wide open shot for me or one more pass results in a wide-open shot for the next guy. Teammates were doing a good job finding me."

Fellow junior Julian Nichols added 17 points, including a perfect 10-for-10 at the free throw line, and a game-high tying seven assists with junior Andy Avgi scoring in double figures for the 15th time this season with 16 points. Junior Devon Alexander chipped in with 12 points for the Wolves with senior Lewis Thomas rounded out the Wolves' starters with seven points. WOU's starting five accounted for 89.0% of the team's scoring, as senior Marwan Sarhan came off the Wolves' bench to grab a game-high tying six rebounds to go along with a game-high six steals by Alexander.

When asked about his starter's production, Bergeson said, "(The starters had some) solid production tonight. (Saint Martin's) did a good job early on making things hard for us particulary inside and our guys adjusted over the course of the game to the openings that were popping up and we took advantage of it. Our outside shooters made some threes late in the first half and carried through to the second half and opened things up a little bit. That took the edge off a little bit and we were able to get some paint shots and free throw line opportunities, as well."

The Wolves have won four straight games and 12 out of their last 13 games, while also putting together an unbeaten home stretch that dates back to before Thanksgiving of last year.

When asked about the current winning streak, Bergeson said, "Each week is a new week. The streaks are for the fans and the people on the outside to enjoy and talk about. We do not talk about it. For us, the streak ends at the end of the week and we are back to a one-game-on-Thursday approach and we have to stay that way."

Saint Martin's (5-12, 2-5 GNAC) was led by Tyler Copp with 19 points on 5-for-10 shooting from behind the arc, while Isaac Bianchini chipped in 14 points off the Saints' bench and Trey Ingram added 10 points and a game-high tying seven assists.Ryan Rogers pulled down a game-high tying six rebounds for SMU, while Tyler Idowu blocked a game-high three shots.  

Avgi and Wiley got things started early for the Wolves by hitting back-to-back three-point field goals in the opening two minutes, as Western Oregon built a slim 6-5 lead. Saint Martin's was able to get the momentum back behind a 10-3 run and took a five-point lead (20-15) after a jumper by Rogers midway through the first half. The Wolves seemed to get the momentum back after Avgi drew an offensive foul that sparked a 13-4 run for WOU resulting in a 25-24 lead after back-to-back buckets by Thomas that included the final one with just over four minutes left in the first half. A step-back jumper by Nichols and a contested three-point basket by Wiley would give WOU a 31-29 lead just over three minutes later, as the Wolves got a buzzer-beating three-pointer by Thomas to close out the first half with WOU ahead 34-29 at halftime.

The Wolves came out rolling to start the second half, getting out to a 9-0 run that forced Saint Martin's head coach Michael Ostlund to take an early timeout after he found his team down by 14 (43-29) with 17:24 on the clock. The visiting Saints went on a 9-3 run coming out of the timeout to make the score 43-35, but a key three-point-bucket by junior Dezmond Dupree-Turner brought the lead back up to double figures (49-39) for the Wolves with 13:52 left. The Wolves had their lead cut to just four points (51-46) midway through the second half, but that would be as close as Saint Martin's would get as the Wolves hit five straight three-point buckets – two by Wiley and one each by Alexander, Nichols, and Dupree-Turner – that stretched their lead out to 14 once again (68-54) to match their largest lead of the game with just over five minutes left. With about two minutes left in the game, the Wolves really started slowing the pace of the game down, forcing SMU to foul numerous times down the stretch. Behind great free throw shooting (12-for-12) and forcing multiple turnovers down the stretch, the Wolves were able to close out the 14-point victory (82-68).

As a team, Western Oregon combined to shoot 24-for-50 (48.0%) from the field that included a 12-for-22 (54.5%) clip in the second half. The Wolves made half of their shots from behind the three-point line (12-for-23) en route to shooting 52.2% from long distance, while also making 22-of-26 (84.6%) of their shots at the free throw line. On the other hand, Saint Martin's was a combined 22-for-47 (46.8%) from the field, 13-for-27 (48.1%) from long distance, and 11-of-18 (61.1%) at the charity stripe.

When talking about his team's free throw shooting and whether or not that was something that his team worked on during the week, Bergeson said, "(We were) not particular (working on that this week). I think that it is a product of when you are going up strong and executing offensively, you get some paint touches in there, whether it's guard driving or bigs posting or offensive rebounds, those are the primary ways that you are going to end up at the foul line. I think that the key for us is to go up strong, on balance, and be ready for contact no matter the calls."

Western Oregon returns to action on Thursday, January 22, when the Wolves travel across the border to British Columbia and take on the highest scoring team in NCAA Division II, Simon Fraser, beginning at 7 p.m. in Burnaby, B.C.