The Basics

• Final Score: No. 1/1Western Oregon 90, Western Washington 85
• Records: Western Oregon 21-2, 14-1; Western Washington 14-10, 8-7
• Wolves extended overall winning streak to season-high 12 games and won first game as the top-ranked NABC/D2SIDA in the country.
• Location: Monmouth, Ore. – New P.E. Building

 
How It Happened
Andy Avgi scored 34 points, balanced between the halves, and posted his first season double-double as No. 1 Western Oregon came back from another halftime deficit to beat Western Washington 90-85 Thursday night.
 
Julian Nichols had his first career double-double adding 17 points and 10 assists for WOU (21-2, 14-1 GNAC), which has won 12 straight since its lone conference loss at Central Washington. For Avgi, his sixth career double-double came with 12 field goals, four from behind the arc, and six free throws.
 
The loss also dropped WWU, the preseason Great Northwest Athletic Conference favorite, to 14-10 overall and 8-7 in league play.
 
Ricardo Maxwell scored 35 points to lead the Vikings. Trey Drechsel added 21 and Kyle Impero 12 for WWU.
 
Devon Alexander scored 14 points and Tanner Omlid totaled 11 points for Western Oregon, which made 9-of-27 attempts from 3-point land. WSU made 7-of-21 shots from distance.
 
Western Oregon shot 47 percent (31-of-66) in the game and had 16 assists, the majority from Nichols.
 
Avgi scored the Wolves first eight points of the game to keep the game close over the opening five minutes. Western Washington's hot shooting, led by Maxwell's 21 points, extended their first-half lead to as many as 16 points.
 
The Vikings led 44-34 at halftime, putting the Wolves in the trailing position for the third consecutive game. WWU shot a hot 60 percent over the opening 20 minutes while the Wolves were held to 38.9 percent.
 
Western Oregon came out gunning in the early moments of the second half, cutting the Viking lead down to seven, 50-43, on a triple by Jordan Wiley.
 
WWU hit three successive shots to regain a 13-point lead that extended by a tally at the 14:15 mark.
 
Over the 4:26, the Wolves went on a 10-2 run to pull within six. Nichols began the rally with two charity shots while Avgi and Alexander followed with lay-ups. Maxwell countered with two lay-ups increasing the WWU lead back to 10.
 
Western Oregon brought the crowd back into the game with a 10-0 run capped by a triple from Omlid after an offensive rebound that tied the game at 67-67. Omlid's layup and an Avgi 3-pointer under the 4-minute mark allowed the Wolves to put up a four-point cushion, 75-71.
 
Nichols and Wiley combined to hit 11-of-12 fouls shots and a two-handed dunk from Omlid after a steal held off WWU's rally attempt despite three makes from downtown.
 
WWU came into the game leading the GNAC and ranked 24^th in the nation with an average of 86.6 points per game.
 

Wolves' Top Performers

• Andy Avgi posted his first double-double of the season, tying a season-high with 34 points and dominating the glass with 14 rebounds. He shot 12-of-23 from the field and 6-of-7 from the foul line.
• Julian Nichols also went for a double-double with 17 points and 10 assists. Nichols was 9-of-10 from the stripe.
• Devon Alexander shot over 50 percent for the night (6-of-11) to finish with 14 points and three rebounds.
• Tanner Omlid had a solid second half to post 11 points and eight rebounds.

For the Vikings

• Ricardo Maxwell connected on 13 field goals, including going 4-of-4 from behind the 3-point arc, while going 5-of-7 from the free-throw line for a game-high 35 points.
• Trey Drechsel and Kyle Impero each fell a rebound short of double-doubles. Drechsel had 21 points and nine boards. Impero finished with 12 points and nine rebounds.
• Jeffrey Parker chipped in 11 points and five rebounds.

 
Stats of the Game

• Western Oregon had a season-low three turnovers, two in the first half and one in the second half. WWU had only six giveaways.
• A close battle of the boards went in favor of the Wolves, 38-36.
• WWU lead for 34:49 of the 40 minutes in the game.

 
Up Next
Western Oregon closes out the weekend hosting Simon Fraser (2-19, 1-14) on Saturday, Feb. 13 at 7 p.m. The Clan snapped an 18-game losing streak Thursday with a 90-70 win at Concordia. In the first meeting between the two teams, Western Oregon won 90-67 in Burnaby on Jan. 14.