BILLINGS, Mont. – A 10-0 run that stretched over both halves was all that Western Oregon University's men's basketball team needed en route to earning a 72-64 victory over Montana State University Billings in Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) play Saturday inside Alterowitz Gymnasium.

"First of all, Billings is easily the best two-win team in the country," said head coach Brady Bergeson. "We did a bad job with our ball security tonight, but we did a good job of taking what they gave us. Toughness as well as lack of it is amplified on the road. We were mentally tough tonight."

Western Oregon (11-3, 3-1 GNAC) was led offensively by junior Andy Avgi with a game-high 23 points on 11-of-15 shooting from the field, while senior Marwan Sarhan also scored in double figues with 13 points and a team-high seven rebounds. Junior Devon Alexander, senior Lewis Thomas, and junior Jordan Wiley combined to score 25 points, while junior Julian Nichols ran the Wolves' offense with a game-high seven assists to go along with a game-high five steals by Alexander.

Montana State Billings (2-12, 0-4 GNAC) had four players score in double figures led by Antonie Hosley with 17 points off the Yellowjackets' bench, while Emmanuel Johnson, Momir Gataric, and Jordan Perry added 16, 13, and 12 points, respectively. Perry led all players on the boards with a game-high nine rebounds, while Gataric handed out a team-best four assists for MSUB.

Over the game's opening six minutes, both teams fought tooth and nail resulting in an 8-8 tie with 13:59 on the clock. Western Oregon would kick up its offensive presence over the next two minutes, as the Wolves used an 8-3 run that resulted in a 16-11 lead following a lay-in by Avgi with 11:58 left. WOU would push its lead to seven points (20-13) on another Avgi lay-in with 9:22 remaining before Montana State Billings used a 21-9 run over a span of eight minutes that resulted in a 34-29 lead after a lay-in by Johnson with 1:51 on the clock. Over the final 111 seconds of the opening half, Western Oregon began the aforementioned 10-0 run by scoring the final eight points en route to earning a 38-34 lead at halftime.

The second half would begin with Avgi capping Western Oregon's 10 straight points over the two halves, as the Wolves pushed their lead to six points (40-34). WOU's 10-0 run came over a span of two minutes and 39 seconds, as Western Oregon grabbed the lead late in the first half and never relinquished it for the remainder of the game. The Wolves would see MSUB pull within a single point (58-57) with 7:25 left before WOU used a 10-3 run over a span of five minutes to pull ahead 68-60 on a pair of free throws by Nichols with 2:31 left. Over the final two-plus minutes, Western Oregon would connect on 6-of-9 free throws en route to earning the hard-fought win (72-64) en route to securing its 11th win of the season and continue to sit in a three-way tie with Seattle Pacific and Alaska Anchorage atop the current GNAC standings.

As a team, Western Oregon combined to shoot 30-of-59 (50.8%) from the field that included 50 percent-or-better in each half. The Wolves were also a combined 5-of-16 (31.3%) from beyond the three-point line, while also hitting 7-of-13 (53.8%) at the free throw line. WOU shot 58.1% (25-of-43) from inside the three-point line that included 44 points in the paint and 11 second-chance points on 11 offensive rebounds. On the other hand, Montana State Billings was a combined 26-for-59 (44.1%) from the field, 9-of-23 (39.1%) from long distance, and 3-of-9 (33.3%) at the charity stripe.

Western Oregon returns to the hardwood on Thursday, January 8, against Northwest Nazarene University beginning at 7:30 p.m. inside the New PE Building in Monmouth.