MONMOUTH, Ore. — The Western Oregon men's basketball team returns home for their final two home games of the regular season before finishing on the road. The Wolves host No. 25 Northwest Nazarene Feb. 21 at 7:30 p.m. in the second game of a doubleheader at NPE Gym as a part of Central Youth Sports Night. They finish their week Feb. 23 when Central Washington visits NPE Gym at 7 p.m.

CYS FUNDRAISER: Teaming up with Central Youth Sports in a time of need for the local organization, Western Oregon Athletics has announced it will be donating $2 to the group for every ticket sold on its Feb. 21 basketball doubleheader.

CYS is a non-profit, volunteer-based organization located in Monmouth/Independence that provides sports programs for youth. CYS offers youth opportunities in several sports including baseball, basketball, softball and volleyball. Earlier last month a storage unit modular used by CYS was destroyed by a fire with all of its contents lost due to the damage. The Wolves will be offering a chance for the community to help the group directly by attending the doubleheader or to learn more about the organization by heading to: Central Youth Sports
 
ABOUT NO. 25 NNU (18-4, 13-3 GNAC): Northwest Nazarene is currently on a three-game winning streak and has won seven of their last eight games dating back to Jan. 24. Their only loss during that run was a narrow 78-77 defeat at the hands of Simon Fraser Feb. 7. Currently in a tie for 4th in the latest D2SIDA West Region Poll, the Nighthawks sit just one game back of Saint Martin's for 1st in the GNAC and have a one-game lead over Seattle Pacific for 3rd.  With just two weeks left, NNU perhaps has the most upward or downward mobility of any team in the playoff picture.
 
Shooting a dazzling 51.4 percent from the field, NNU is 10th in the country in field goal shooting, but a frosty 34.0 percent from 3-point range; good for last in the conference.
 
Also boasting the GNAC's top scoring offense, the Nighthawks' 86.1 points per game will be tested by Western Oregon's leading scoring defense (65.7).
 
NNU has relied on two of the top three scorers in the conference to carry their offensive load. Junior Adonis Arms (20.7) and senior Obi Megwa (19.0) hold the 1st and 3rd spots in GNAC scoring, respectively.

WOU vs. NNU: WOU is 19-18 against NNU since 2001. NNU's win Jan. 26 in Nampa snapped a three-game winning streak for the Wolves in the series. WOU has won eight of the last 10 meetings dating back to Feb. 10, 2014. They have lost consecutive games to NNU just once in the last 10 years. WOU is 12-6 at home in the series.

ABOUT CWU (10-14 4-12 GNAC): The new year has not been kind to the Wildcats. Central Washington has won just four games in 2019 and are 1-7 since Jan. 24 when they lost 89-57 to the Wolves in Ellensburg.
 
CWU has paced an impressive 82.0 points per game, but is last in the conference in scoring defense, allowing 81.6 points a night. They have also struggled to keep opponents off the boards, yielding a -3.6 rebounding margin for 11th in the GNAC.
 
Junior Gamaun Boykin leads the team in scoring (12.8), rebounding (5.2) and assists (3.3).

WOU vs. CWU: WOU is 17-20 against CWU since 2001. The Wolves have won six straight in the series and nine of the last 10 meetings dating back to Feb. 6, 2014. CWU's last win in the series was an 81-77 win Dec. 31, 2015. They have not won in Monmouth since Feb. 25, 2012. WOU is 11-7 at home in the series.

ABOUT WESTERN OREGON (17-8, 10-6 GNAC): Western Oregon is coming off a pair of road losses last week, falling 66-57 to Seattle Pacific before a 64-56 loss at Saint Martin's. The 0-2 week dropped WOU out of the D2SIDA regional rankings for the first time this season and has placed them in 4th, two games back of 3rd, in the GNAC standings with four games left to play.
 
Dalven Brushier led the offense with 27 combined points last week in two starts.
 
With two weeks left in the regular season, WOU still has some work to do to ensure a place in the GNAC tournament, but could have their ticket stamped as early as Thursday night with a win coupled with an MSUB and Alaska Anchorage loss.

NATIONAL RANKS: The Wolves are currently 5th in TO margin (+6.0), 20th in scoring margin (+12.7) and 13th in scoring defense (65.7 ppg) in NCAA DII.

GNAC RANKS: In the conference, the Wolves rank 1st in scoring defense (65.7 ppg), scoring margin (+12.7), steals per game (8.2), assist/turnover ratio (1.40) and turnover margin (+6.0).

BREAK 80: A Western Oregon opponent has not scored 80 or more points since Jan. 5 when they beat UAF 97-80. The most points allowed by the Wolves this season was 88 to WWU Dec. 1 in three overtimes.
 
BRUSHIER SCORING: Junior Dalven Brushier has finished in double figures in scoring in 10 of the last 12 games. This includes his season-high 22-point performance against Alaska Fairbanks at home.
 
OLD 97's: WOU's 97 points Feb. 9 against MSUB ties for their season-high in scoring against a conference opponent with their 97-80 win at Alaska Fairbanks Jan. 5. They have scored 90 or more points five times this season against a GNAC opponent and six times overall. The 32-point win also matches the largest victory over a GNAC opponent this season with their 89-57 win at Central Washington Jan. 24.
 
50-50 NIGHTS: WOU has finished better than 50 percent from both the field and 3-point range in four games this season. It is only the second time they have accomplished the feat four times in a season during their NCAA-era, along with four 50-50 nights during the 2002-03 campaign. It took the '02-'03 team until Feb. 27 to get their fourth 50-50 game recorded while this year's Wolves hit the mark Jan. 31 against Alaska.
 
HOLD AFTER HALF: Western Oregon is 15-2 this year when leading at halftime.
 
CONSECUTIVE LOSSES: WOU had not lost consecutive games since the 2016-17 season, most recently Feb. 9 &11, 2017 at WWU and SFU, until their losses Feb. 14 and 16 at SPU and SMU.
 
OFFENSIVE REBOUNDS: Western Oregon's 22 offensive rebounds Jan. 26 at Northwest Nazarene was their most in a game since Dec. 16, 2014 in a 110-61 win over Multnomah when they pulled in 25. The Wolves set a school NCAA-era record that night with 64 total rebounds, breaking the previous record by 10.

ASSISTS LOW AT NNU: The six team assists Jan. 26 at NNU were the fewest for WOU since their March 24, 2016, meeting with Augustana (S.D.) in the Final Four when they had just five assists.

UN-THREE-LIEVABLE: WOU's 91-65 win over Concordia Jan. 8 was the second time this season they found themselves stamping the program's record books for 3-pointers. Making 14 team 3-pointers in the game, it was the 9th-highest single-game total in the school's NCAA-era history as well as 4th-highest percentage from three (.636). Riley Hawken's 6-for-7 night from deep tied for the 4th-best single-game 3-point percentage as well.

CONVINCING WINS: 14 of the 17 wins this season for WOU have come by at least 11 points. This includes six wins of at least 22.

WHEEL OF STARTERS:  10 separate players have started a game this season for Western Oregon.

BENCH PRODUCTION: The WOU bench has produced at least 15 points in 23 of their 25 games including 11 games of at least 30 points. The WOU bench scored 65 points Dec. 29 vs. Portland Bible College. WOU's leading scorer has been a reserve five times this season.

COLLINS COMING ON STRONG: After scoring just 15 combined points over his first five appearances of the season, freshman Etan Collins has finished in double figures in four of six games between Jan. 5 and Jan. 24 and six times overall this year. His 24 points Dec. 8 against Corban University is the third-highest single-game total by a WOU player this season and the second-highest total by an underclassman. Additionally, his 20 combined rebounds between games Jan. 17 and 19 ties him for the team's highest two-game total with Riley Hawken who had 20 rebounds over that span on two separate occasions.

FOUL DIFFERENTIAL: Western Oregon's sticky defense has led to an even or positive foul differential in all but one game this season; their 129-33 win over Portland Bible College.

TURNOVER MARGINS: The Wolves are 5th in NCAA DII with a +6.0 TO margin. Including two exhibition games this season, WOU has forced at least 13 turnovers in all but four games – all losses — they have played.

RECORD-SETTING NIGHT: Western Oregon's 129-33 win over Portland Bible College Dec. 29 set several GNAC records including largest margin of victory, lowest field goal percentage defense (18.8) and fewest field goals allowed (9). The 96-point win topped the previous conference record by 11 points, set in 2008 by Central Washington. The 129 points was the most by WOU in their NCAA-era and just the third time they have topped 120 points in a game.
 
BAKER'S ALMOST DOZEN: O'landa Baker doled out 11 assists Dec. 29 for a season-high. It was the third-most assists by a WOU player in NCAA-era history and the most since 2015. He accounted for over one-third of the team's 31 assists, coming just three shy of tying the school record for assists in a game. Baker also set himself season-highs in minutes, points, 3-point field goals made, rebounds and steals in that game.
 
DEFENSIVE HAWK: Junior Riley Hawken led the Wolves or tied for the team lead in rebounds in 10 of 11 games between Nov. 23 and Jan. 5. He is also currently 2nd in the GNAC with 2.0 steals per game.

LEADING SCORERS: WOU has had nine different leading scorers this season. By class, the Wolves have been led by two freshman, one sophomore, three juniors and three seniors.

SHARING THE LOAD: Four separate Wolves are averaging 10 or more points per game while seven players are averaging more than five points per game.

MAKE YOUR FREE THROWS: WOU went 25-28 at the line Dec. 1 against Western Washington. It was the most free throws made in a game by the Wolves since March 23, 2016 when they went 28-for-31 at the stripe in an 81-68 win over Saginaw Valley State in the 2016 Elite Eight.

DEFENSIVE DOMINANCE: The 35 points scored by Colorado Christian Nov. 17 in WOU's 64-35 win was the fewest allowed in a game by the Wolves since Walla Walla's 29-point performance on Dec. 10, 2011. It was then bested a little over a month later when Western Oregon allowed just 33 points to Portland Bible College in a 129-33 win.
 
SOUZA PERFECT FROM THE FIELD: Buster Souza tied his career-high with 14 points off the bench Nov. 17 in a 64-35 win over Colorado Christian. Souza led all scorers in 14 minutes of play. The senior forward was a perfect 7-for-7 from the field while also pulling in four rebounds and two assists. It was only the third time in the school's NCAA-era history that a player has been perfect from the field on seven or more shots.
 
CONFERENCE OPENERS: Western Oregon has won five straight GNAC openers dating back to the 2014-15 season. Their last loss in their first conference game of the season came in a tight 67-66 loss to No. 5 Western Washington on Dec. 5, 2013 in Bellingham. The Wolves got their revenge later that year with an 88-85 win in the regular season finale.

SPANISH GNAC TIES: Former Western Oregon standout Tanner Omlid and former Simon Fraser guard Kedar Salam are now professional teammates, playing for CB Moron of LEB Plata in Spain.  

HAWKEN PRESASON ALL-GNAC: Junior Riley Hawken was the only Western Oregon player selected to the GNAC Men's Basketball Preseason All-Conference Team, named a unanimous selection for the 2018-19 season. Hawken is one of six juniors on the team of 15 with the remainder being seniors. Hawken is the lone returning starter off of Western Oregon's GNAC championship team. He averaged 8.2 points and 5.3 rebounds per game while shooting 79.5 percent from the free throw line and averaging 1.6 assists per contest during the Wolves' historic season.

2018-19 GNAC PRESEASON POLL: The Wolves were picked to place third in the league standings following Saint Martin's and Seattle Pacific… WOU received two of the 11 first-place votes for 94 total points in the poll to SMU's 118 and SPU's 105… the Wolves were the only team outside of the Saint's to receive a first-place vote and held an 11-point buffer over fourth-place Western Washington.

2017-18 REVIEW: The Wolves went 31-2 overall last season and 19-1 in conference… They cruised to both a regular season and conference tournament title with their only regular season slip coming in the second game of GNAC play against Western Washington. After the loss to the Vikings, the Wolves rattled off a school-record 24 consecutive wins while setting a Great Northwest Athletic Conference record for wins. WOU returned to the West Regional Championship game for the second time in three years, falling to Cal Baptist, 80-76. Tanner Omlid pulled in several postseason accolades, being named the GNAC Player of the Year, D2CCA West Region Player of the Year, D2CCA and NABC All-American and named to the NABC DII All-District Team.

D2 WEST REGION POLL: Western Oregon fell out of the D2SIDA West Region Men's Basketball Poll for this first time this season, receiving a season-low four points in the poll. Three GNAC teams were represented in the poll with Saint Martin's jumping back up into 1st while Northwest Nazarene lost a spot falling into a tie for 4th. Seattle Pacific stays on the brink, ranking 9th.

  

D2SIDA West Region Poll (Feb. 11, 2019)
Rank / School	Record	Points
1. Saint Martin's (6)	21-3	60
2. Point Loma	21-4	52
3. Cal Poly Pomona	16-5	44
T4. Cal State East Bay	20-5	40
T4. Northwest Nazarene	18-4	40
6. UC San Diego	18-7	26
T7. Chaminade	18-5	22
T7. Concordia (Calif.)	18-5	22
9. Seattle Pacific	15-6	15
10. Azusa Pacific	16-9	5
WOU in D2SIDA West Region Poll
Date	Rank	Points
Nov. 12	7th	21
Nov. 19	9th	14
Nov. 26	T-10th	8
Dec. 3	7th	27
Dec. 10	7th	25
Dec. 20	6th	23
Jan. 7	7th	26
Jan. 14	7th	29
Jan. 21	7th	29
Jan. 28	7th	20
Feb. 4	6th	27
Feb. 11	8th	20
Feb. 18	RV	4