BELLINGHAM, Wash. – The Western Oregon men's basketball team kept their season alive with a thrilling 16-point comeback win over the Saint Martin's Saints, 70-53 Friday night at Carver Gym in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Tournament semifinals.

For the Wolves, it is their fourth consecutive trip to the championship game having won two of the last three titles, and their largest deficit to overcome for a win this season.

The No. 1-seeded Saints opened the game on a 7-0 run while the No. 4 Wolves struggled to find their rhythm offensively early, going scoreless over the first 4:55 of the game. This included shooting 0-for-5 from the field and 0-for-3 from 3-point range.

Western Oregon pulled within two at 15-13 thanks to 6 early points from Darius Lubom on 3-of-4 shooting. The sophomore's keen ability to drive to the rim allowed him to hit 75 percent of his shots in the game and finish with 14 points, four rebounds and a season-high nine assists.

Another 7-0 SMU run opened their lead back up, this time swelling to as many as 11 points on multiple occasions. EJ Boyce hit each of his first three 3-pointers including a 4-point play after being fouled falling away from a corner three. He led the Saints with 14 points off the bench.

The Saints did not trail in the first half, leading for over 18 minutes of the 20-minute period.

Western Oregon out-shot Saint Martin's by four percentage points in the first half, but were out-rebounded 19-16 including a 6-3 advantage in offensive rebounds for the Saints. BJ Standley scored 11 of his 13 points in the game before the break to anchor a strong start for the SMU reserves.

Saint Martin's kept their momentum going coming into the second half. Armed with a 33-23 lead, they extended a run to close the opening half into the second period, out-scoring WOU 11-0 to extend their lead out to as many as 16.

Trailing 39-26 with 17:02 left to play in the game, the Wolves made their move. WOU went on a 22-6 run over the next 6:10 to capture their first lead of the night. Lubom drove the baseline around Chandler Redix for the layup to put the Wolves ahead and completed a three-point play moments later after drawing the foul.

In total, the Wolves out-scored SMU 44-14 in the final 16:46 of the game, improving their shooting to 64 percent in the second half including 50 percent from 3-point range.

Not only did the offense make huge strides throughout the game, but the Western Oregon defense put the clamps down on the potent shooting of SMU. The Saints managed just 25.9 percent field goal shooting in the second half and went quiet from deep, hitting one 3-pointer in 10 second-half attempts.

Senior Kaleb Warner led the WOU offense with a season-high 25 points and six rebounds. Warner was 6-of-7 from three, not missing until his final attempt of the night.

Riley Hawken finished just shy of a double-double, dropping 11 points while pulling down 8 rebounds in a game-high 33 minutes.

Buster Souza's defense provided a big boost around the rim, swatting away three blocks to pair with four points and three rebounds.

The Wolves advance to the championship game to face the No. 2 Seattle Pacific Falcons. WOU went 1-1 against SPU during the regular season as both teams defended home court. Tipoff March 9 against the Falcons is set for 7:35 p.m. PST at Carver Gym on the campus of Western Washington University. The game will be streamed live on ESPN3.