LACEY, Wash. – Limiting Saint Martin's to just 52 points helped allow the Western Oregon University men's basketball team to get the offense rolling and it did just that. After the Saints made a push in the second half, the Wolves responded and never looked back rolling to the 80-52 win in Great Northwest Athletic Conference action Saturday night.
"Tonight was a full team effort start to finish and it was built on the defensive end of the floor. Emanuel, Collin and John really gave us a shot in the arm with their activity on the defensive end and you saw a glimpse of the player Antonio Salinas is going to be as he was great tonight. Saint Martin's punched us quick in the second half and we responded and Dalven carried us for a stretch offensively," head coach Wes Pifer said.
Dalven Brushier was the main catalyst, when he wasn't hitting three-pointers, he was taking it inside and refusing to not be denied. The senior led the way with 25 points on 9-16 shooting, 5-10 from three and 2-2 at the foul line. He made it a double-double with 10 rebounds and also added an assist and steal in 37 minutes. It was the eighth time this season he has reached at least 20 points in a game and second time to grab 10 rebounds as he also had a 21-point, 10-rebound double-double at Alaska Anchorage.
"Tonight we came out and had to battle for 40 minutes. Our coaching staff kept reinforcing our mindset of having a 'killer instinct' on the floor. Our underclassmen stepped up for us in a major way tonight and helped lead us to victory," Brushier said.
While Brushier put together his big night, the Wolves (14-6, 8-6 GNAC) defense limited Saint Martin's (5-18, 3-11 GNAC) to just a 20-55 (36) shooting night and 4-23 (17) from three. They went 8-15 (53) at the foul line.
WOU also took advantage on second-chance points (16-7) and the bench was big outscoring the Saints by 26 (29-3). Three players had at least seven points off the bench led by Antonio Salinas' nine points. Emanuel Gant added eight and Riley Hamilton with seven. Jaylyn Richardson also reached double-figures with 13 points.
"We played really well tonight and everyone had to contribute a huge part in order to get the win. I think for us, keeping the intensity up on the defensive end led to easy buckets on the offensive end and that's exactly how we want to play," Salinas said. "When the ball is moving and we're playing with high energy on both sides of the ball, we're a real scary team to see. With a few of our starters down for parts of the game, it was definitely hard without them, but everyone stepped up and did what the team needed them to do!"
Both teams struggled to gain control through the first 10 minutes of the game that had the teams tied at 14. A Salinas three helped spark a 6-0 run for the Wolves with Gant hitting a fastbreak layup and turning it into a three-point-play after hitting the foul shot to push WOU to the 20-14 lead.
Following a push back by the Saints, a Brushier three with just under five minutes to go in the half stretched the lead to double-digits. The lead reached 14 on a layup by John Morrill-Keeler before Saint Martin's closed the half on a 5-0 run to lead WOU with the 36-27 lead at the break.
The Saints responded in the second half, roaring out to a 12-0 run over the first three minutes of play to erase the deficit and move in front 39-36.
Over the next four-plus minutes the teams battled to a 47-all tie before WOU began to make their move to put the game out of reach. Off a missed shot, a quick pass down the floor by Gant to Richardson turned into a three-point-play to trigger a 9-0 run. Hamilton, Collin Warmouth and Brushier all added baskets during the run that left WOU with the 56-47 lead near the midway point of the second half.
Saint Martin's made one final push to pull to within seven, just to watch WOU seal the deal when they unleashed a 21-0 run over the final seven-plus minutes of the game. In turn, they kept the Saints from scoring over the final 7:41 of the game.
Brushier scored the first seven points of the run, Richardson added a three-point-play, Brushier then dialed long distance and after a Richardson layup, Gant and Salinas closed the scoring with three-pointers to provide the final margin of 80-52.
"We needed this one tonight going into the last part of the regular season. I wanted to be aggressive and try to make the best play possible on either end of the floor. My teammates did a great job of finding me and making shots when we found them," Brushier added.
WOU shot well from the field connecting on 30-65 (46), 13-30 (43) from three and 7-8 (88) at the foul line.
CJ Jennings led Saint Martin's with 20 points, while Marky Adams nearly had a double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds.
The win gives WOU a season sweep of Saint Martin's, winning the two games by a combined 63 points.
A look around the GNAC standings had a close game in Bellingham go to Western Washington in overtime against Alaska Anchorage, Alaska Fairbanks survive to win by two at Simon Fraser, Northwest Nazarene held off MSU Billings and Seattle Pacific rolled to a 36-point victory. The latest standings have Seattle Pacific in first at 13-1, followed by Western Washington, Northwest Nazarene and Alaska Fairbanks all tied for second at 9-5. Western Oregon sits alone in fifth, while Central Washington and Alaska Anchorage are tied for the final GNAC Tournament spot in sixth at 7-7. Simon Fraser remains a game back at 6-8.
WOU returns home this Thursday to face Western Washington starting at 7:30 p.m. inside NPE Building Gym. It will also be a Food Drive Night where if you donate three cans or three dollars, you will receive a free small popcorn and help a good cause! On Saturday, the Wolves will face Simon Fraser also at 7:30 p.m. inside NPE Building Gym which will be Cancer Awareness Night. The first 50 fans into the game will receive a t-shirt!
