MONMOUTH, Ore. – A tip-in by junior Andy Avgi with 23 seconds left helped Western Oregon University earn a hard-fought, come-from-behind Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) victory over Northwest Nazarene University, 66-59, Thursday inside the New PE Building.

"Tonight's win was gutsy," said Head Coach Brady Bergeson. "We did a beautiful job in the second half taking care of the basketball. They clamped down defensively on us and made everything hard in the second half, but we did take care of the ball. I just thought we were a little bit more detailed with our attack in the last four minutes of the game. This was a one possession game. It could have gone any way. Our guys showed a lot of poise closing the game out."

Leading by a mere three points (62-59) with the shot clock winding down, junior Jordan Wiley took a jumper along the baseline that found the awaiting hands of Avgi, who tipped home his eighth and final basket of the night one second before the shot clock expired to give the Wolves a 64-59 lead with a mere 23 seconds remaining on the game clock. A pair of free throws by junior Julian Nichols nine seconds later would seal the victory for Western Oregon, as WOU extended its winning streak to two games and continue to sit in a three-way tie atop the current GNAC standings.

When asked what motivates his team through close games, Bergeson said, "It's the same thing that motivates our team every single day, and it's just the will to win. I think our guys have that. We are very focused on our goals and who we want to be, and we know that we're works in progress. Every day we come hungry, and we were hungry tonight."

Avgi led Western Oregon (12-3, 4-1 GNAC) in scoring with 18 points, while Wiley scored all 16 of his points in the second half with Nichols and fellow junior Devon Alexander also scored in double figures with 11 and 10 points, respectively. On the boards, Avgi and Nichols led WOU with eight rebounds each to go along with a five-assist performance by Nichols who also tallied a game-high five steals.

Northwest Nazarene (4-10, 2-2 GNAC) would get a game-high 21 points from Erik Kinney, while Matyas Hering and Alex Birketoff also scored in double figures with 14 and 10 points, respectively. Birketoff led all players with a game-high nine rebounds, while Mike Wright handed out a game-high seven assists for the Crusaders.

The first half would begin with Western Oregon scoring the opening five points and continued to hold the lead until Northwest Nazarene used a 6-0 run over a span of 39 seconds en route to earning a 15-13 lead following a three-pointer by Hering with 10:23 left on the first half clock. Over the final 10-plus minutes, neither team would hold more than a four-point lead with five ties happening that included a 31-31 deadlock after two free throws by Nichols with 42 seconds left. The visiting Crusaders would score the final three points of the first half, as NNU took a 34-31 lead into halftime.

Northwest Nazarene would begin the second half on a 6-4 run resulting in a 40-35 lead after a dunk by Kevin Rima with just over 17 minutes left in the game. Over the next two-plus minutes, Western Oregon used an 8-2 run en route to earning a 43-42 advantage following a three-pointer by Wiley with 14:20 left. The teams would trade one-point leads over the next five minutes before WOU secured a 54-52 lead on another three-pointer by Wiley with just over eight minutes on the clock. Just over three minutes later, NNU would earn a three-point lead (57-54) on a putback dunk by Kinney with 4:52 left. Over the next three-plus minutes, Western Oregon would use an 8-2 run that resulted in a 62-59 lead for the home team that also set up the final 79 seconds as well. Over the game's final two-and-a-half minutes, Western Oregon scored the final eight points en route to earning the 66-59 victory.

As a team, Western Oregon combined to shoot 24-for-59 (40.7%) from the field that also included a 6-for-17 (35.3%) performance from beyond the three-point line and 12-of-15 (80.0%) showing at the free throw line. On the other hand, Northwest Nazarene was a combined 22-for-52 (42.3%) from the field, 5-of-18 (27.8%) from long distance, and 10-of-13 (76.9%) at the charity stripe.

Western Oregon returns to the hardwood on Saturday, January 10, against fellow GNAC-leading Central Washington University beginning at 7:30 p.m. inside the New PE Building in Monmouth. Saturday's battle of two of the three top teams in the conference can be seen on KWVT through the Willamette Valley with Justin Herr and Iain Dexter bringing all the action live.

On what improvements his team can make in preparation for Saturday, Bergeson said, "We're going to have to shoot better than 40% in general to win a basketball game, so that points to execution and being able to adjust to some things that NNU threw at us which threw us off. They did a really nice job of doing that. That's going to definitely be a key to the game. Taking care of the ball on Saturday is going to be a key to the game. Central Washington tends to bring a lot of pressure as well, so it will be a fun battle, but we'll be ready."