MONMOUTH, Ore. – Western Oregon men's basketball had four players score in double figures while holding visiting Montana State Billings to their lowest field-goal percentage of the season during Saturday's 72-56 victory over the Yellowjackets on Senior Night.
 
Junior forward Tanner Omlid had 17 points and eight rebounds while junior guards Ali Faruq-Bey and Demetrius Trammell each had 11 points, with Trammell scoring all of his points in the second half. Senior guard Evan Garrison added 10 points and four assists in his final regular-season home game.
 
Junior forward J.J. Chirnside added eight points and six rebounds and senior center Connor Thompson went for five points in 17 solid minutes off the bench as the Wolves (16-12, 13-7 GNAC) solidified their third-seed in next week's league championship tournament.
 
WOU closed out the regular season with three straight home wins and improved to 23-4 on its home court under head coach Jim Shaw.
 
The Wolves trailed 16-15 midway through the first half, but took control by outscoring MSUB (14-14, 9-11 GNAC) 21-7 over the next seven minutes sparked by 3-pointer from Garrison, a triple from sophomore guard Malik Leaks and a tradition three-point effort from Thompson. A jumper from Leaks off an Omlid assist built a 13-point lead before the Yellowjackets scored the final four points of the half to trim WOU's advantage to 38-30.
 
MSUB trimmed the Wolves' lead to four points twice in the second half, the last on a Kamal Tall jumper with 13:01 remaining. But Trammell found the most opportunistic time to connect on back-to-back 3-pointers building the lead back to double figures, 51-41. The Wolves clamped down on shots from the field on the defensive end and got buckets inside from Omlid, Chirnside and Garrison inside the paint to keep the Yellowjackets at arm's length and close the game out.
 
The Wolves shot 44.8 percent (26-of-58) from the field, including 9-of-21 from the 3-point arc (42.9 percent). MSUB was held to 31.5 percent overall (17-of-54) despite 16 points from Jace Anderson and 15 from Preston Beverly.
 
The two teams will meet up in the GNAC Championship quarterfinals on Thursday in the 3-6 matchup from Marcus Pavilion in Lacey, Wash. The other quarterfinal will pit fourth-seed Saint Martin's and fifth-seed Concordia. League champion Western Washington and second-seed Alaska Anchorage have earned byes into the semifinals on Friday.