MONMOUTH, Ore. – Tanner Omlid poured in 23 points as part of his second consecutive double-double and Western Oregon led by 20 at the half, by visiting Northwest Nazarene went on a 32-8 run to take their first lead and come away with a 64-59 comeback victory in the New PE Building on Saturday afternoon.
 
Omlid was perfect from the field in the first half (7-7) in leading the Wolves (5-7, 2-2 GNAC) in scoring. Demetrius Trammell was the only other WOU player to notch double figures, scoring 11 points in 17 minutes off the bench.
 
Up 40-20 at the break after a Malik Leaks 3-pointer beat the halftime buzzer, the Crusaders (5-5, 2-2 GNAC) began to chip away behind the offensive outputs of Bouna N'Diaye and Maurice Jones. With WOU holding on to a 51-40 lead at the 9:03 mark of the second half, the Wolves went without a bucket until Leaks jumper stemmed a 14-4 NNU run with 3:10 remaining. N'Diaye, who scored 18 of his game-high 30 points in the second half, sparked a 5-0 run with a 3-ball.
 
Trammell hit a contested 3-pointer with 20 seconds left to get the Wolves back within two, 61-59, but three charity makes down the stretch capped the Crusader's comeback from as many as 23 points down.
 
Western Oregon opened the game on an 18-3 run highlighted by long connections and easy transition buckets. The Wolves shot 43.2 percent from the field in the first half while holding NNU to 5-of-16 in the same span. When WOU's shooting went cold in the second half (5-of-31, 16.1 percent), Northwest Nazarene responded with 13 makes on 23 attempts (56.5 percent), including six of nine buckets from behind the arc.
 
Jones finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds for NNU.
 
Buster Souza had a game-high eight rebounds as WOU won the battle of the boards for the game, 40-37.
 
Western Oregon opens 2017 with two league games on the road. First up, WOU heads to Seattle Pacific on Thursday, Jan. 5 for a 7:30 p.m. tipoff.