LACEY, Wash. - Senior guard Julian Nichols hit a jumper in the paint with eight seconds as the top-seeded and sixth-ranked Western Oregon defeated Seattle Pacific 58-57 on Friday afternoon to reach its first Great Northwest Athletic Conference tournament championship game.

Nichols had 14 points and Devon Alexander had a team-high 19 points for the Wolves (26-3), who will face Alaska on Saturday evening for the title.

"I thought our senior guards really played like senior guards," WOU head coach Jim Shaw said postgame. "To play even with them on the boards, our guys battled hard."

Mitch Penner had 26 points for SPU (22-8) on 8-of 11 shooting. Brandan Carroll added 14 points for the Falcons.

SPU hit seven of their first 11 shots to take a 17-11 lead at the 12-minute mark after an uncharacteristic three early turnovers by the Wolves.

Alexander's 3-pointer gave the Wolves an 18-17 lead at the 9:32 mark, the team's first of the game. The Wolves rebounded from the slow start to hit nine of their final 18 shots in the half while holding the Falcons to 4-of-11 over the same span to take a 32-31 lead into the halftime break.

WOU doubled-up the Falcons in the paint, 20-10, in the first half while SPU shot a perfect 7-of-7 from the foul line compared the Western Oregon's 4-of-9.

Both teams had trouble finding the bucket early in the second half, especially the Wolves after a 1-of-8 start to the half. That trend continued for the rest of the game, as neither team shot better than 36 percent over the final 20 minutes.

The Wolves produced an 8-0 midway in the second half that extended their lead to 54-45 with five minutes remaining in regulation. Alexander sparked the rally with one of his two triples. Senior forward Andy Avgi closed the scoring with a second-chance layup after he missed his opening jump shot.

Seattle Pacific answered with a 12-2 run to retake the lead of Carroll's mid-range jumper, 57-56.

Nichols handled the final play on his own. After driving to the lower-left block, he spun to his right and nailed a shot with 6.6 seconds that turned out to be the game-winner. The Falcons had a long 3-point try miss short to seal the WOU victory.

"They (SPU) have been the team to beat since I have been here," Alexander said. "They are a cerebral team and I know this win means a lot to me and the four other seniors on the team."

The GNAC Tournament Championship Game against the Nanooks is set to tip at 5:30 p.m. from Marcus Pavilion on the campus of Saint Martin's University. Both teams will make their first GNAC title game appearance.