MONMOUTH, Ore. – The Western Oregon Wolves opened their regular season on Thursday with an 80-65 win, pulling away late from the Warner Pacific Knights at NPE Gym.
Warner Pacific (4-1, 0-0 CCC) caught the Wolves by surprise early, surging to an 18-10 lead off of aggressive offense in the paint. Gabe Garrett was perfect from the field in the game, contributing nine points on 4-of-4 shooting including consecutive layups to push the WPU lead to eight.
After trailing 20-12 with just over 10 minutes remaining in the first half, Western Oregon (1-0, 0-0) went on a 22-6 run to take a lead into the break. The Wolves were able to force 13 first-half turnovers and picked six steals.
Newcomer
Jaylyn Richardson had five rebounds, three steals and three points in 11 minutes in the first half, getting the nod for the start. Richardson came just two rebounds shy of a double-double, finishing with 10 points and eight boards.
"I thought we did a good job of taking care of the ball," said Western Oregon head coach
Jim Shaw. "We worked hard and played well overall, but we need to do a much better job of rebounding and converting at the foul line."
Leading 34-29 at the break, WOU began to stretch their lead out in the second half.
Darius Lubom, who had just two points before the break, exploded offensively in the second half to finish with a game-high 19 points, five rebounds, three steals and two assists in 26 minutes.
Morris Bethea played all but four minutes of the game for the Knights, shooting 60% from deep in an effort to keep WPU within striking distance.
Energy ended up being an issue late for Warner Pacific after only six players contributed more than 12 minutes. Conversely, the Wolves had eight go that deep to help balance out the workload.
Western Oregon eventually forced 21 turnovers in the game, the second time this year their defense has eclipsed the 20-turnover mark, to help deflate a late rally from WPU.
Kaleb Warner continued his knock-down shooting from three, adding in another 17 points, nine of which came from beyond the arc.
The Wolves will host Colorado Christian in their second regular season matchup of the year Nov. 17 in Monmouth. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. at NPE Gym.
