MONMOUTH, Ore.— Responding immediately after an early-week defeat on the road, Western Oregon University ambushed Montana State University-Billings, 97-65, inside the New P.E. Gymnasium on Saturday night.
 
After giving up a pair of early 3-pointers for a 6-2 deficit, Western Oregon (17-6, 10-4 GNAC) uncorked a 21-2 run over a 5-minute span to create its first sizable lead.

Connecting on 4-of-6 from the floor and 3-of-3 from long distance in the early goings, Kaleb Warner led the initial charge with 11 points through the first 10 minutes of play.
 
Spurred by the play of Brendan Howard, Montana State Billings (11-11, 6-8 GNAC) made a run in the middle of the first half to pull within five, closing the gap to 29-24 to quiet the crowd.
 
The Wolves halted the comeback hopes by shooting at a 60-percent clip for most of the first half and re-established its advantage with a 17-point spree to go up by as many as 22 points before the break.
 
Scoring 56 points in the first half alone, the Wolves had three players reach double figures in scoring before entering the locker room and five total by the end of the game. 
 
Warner went on to lead the team with 18 points and was followed by 14 from Brushier, 13 from Jaylin Richardson, 12 from Riley Hawken and 11 from O'landa Baker.
 
The Wolves connected on 12-of-26 attempts from 3-point range for the team's 10th game of the year with at least 10 makes from beyond the arc. The team's 97 points were tied for the second most this season and the sixth time they scored 90 or more points in a game this season.
 
MSUB's Howard led all scorers with 27 points on an efficient 12-of-15 shooting. 
 
Western Oregon will hit the road next week with a pair of matches against two of the top three teams in the GNAC standings. The Wolves will face Seattle Pacific on Thursday, Feb. 14 and the league leaders from Saint Martin's on Saturday, Feb. 16. 
 
The Wolves fell to the Saints, 64-59, on Jan. 17 and defeated SPU, 73-71, in Monmouth two days later.