MONMOUTH, Ore. – The Western Oregon men's basketball team hosts two teams competing for a Great Northwest Athletic Conference tournament spot this week as the Western Washing Vikings and Simon Fraser Clan visit the Wolves during an intense battle at the top of the GNAC.

Western Oregon (14-6, 8-6 GNAC) currently sits in fifth place in the conference standings and just one game out of second. Currently, just three games separate the second and eighth spots in the standings given the competitive play through the first half of the conference slate.

Last week the Wolves lost a heartbreaker at first place Seattle Pacific, 83-82, before bouncing back with an 80-52 win over the Saint Martin's Saints to split their week. Dalven Brushier provided a big double-double against SMU, dropping 25 points along with 10 rebounds, an assist and a steal in 37 minutes.

Western continues to lead the conference in several major offensive categories including points per game (87.4), scoring margin (+11.0), field goal percentage (49.8) and 3-point percentage (41.5).

Individually, Brushier sits 3^rd in the GNAC with a 17.9 points per game average and is one of four Wolves averaging in double figures. Junior Darius Lubom paces the conference with 4.7 assists per night and is one of just three players averaging at least four assists a game.

Western Washington (14-8, 9-5 GNAC) recently snapped a three-game losing streak with an 85-81 overtime win over the Alaska Anchorage Seawolves, but have lost four of their last six games to slide into a three-team tie for second in the conference. Their losing streak included losses to each of the teams they currently hold a tie with in the GNAC standings – Alaska and Northwest Nazarene.

The Vikings are 10-3 at home this season, but just 4-4 in true road games with three of their remaining six regular season contests coming on the road. Trevor Jasinsky leads the team averaging 14.3 points, while Jalen Green adds 14.0 points per night.

WOU is 13-28 against WWU all-time. The Vikings have won their last two meetings and six of the last eight dating back to 2017. Western Oregon, however, has won three of the last four matchups in Monmouth. The Wolves are 10-9 at home in the series.

Simon Fraser (13-10, 6-8 GNAC) also finds themselves in the hunt for a postseason spot, but with a tougher route to a berth. The Clan are currently eighth in the conference standings, but sit a game out of a conference tournament spot and three games out of second place.

The Clan have faltered as of late, losing four of their last five games and seven of their last 10. Despite the losing mark in the last several weeks, SFU was able to post an important win over the UAA Seawolves to help gain traction.

SFU is averaging 80.1 points per game while allowing 76.7 to opposing teams. They are led by the 16.4 points per game of Jasdeep Singh and 15.0 of Wilfried Balata.

WOU is 18-1 against Simon Fraser all-time. They have won five straight in the series with their only loss coming on Feb. 11, 2017, in Burnaby. The Wolves are 9-0 at home in the series.

Western's matchup Thursday, Feb. 13, against WWU is set for 7:30 p.m. while their game Saturday, Feb. 15, against SFU will tip off at 2 p.m. PST. Both games will take place at NPE Gym as a part of a doubleheader with the WOU women's basketball team. Live stats and video are available here.