MONMOUTH, Oregon --- The Western Oregon men's basketball team dropped a fast-paced contest late to Cal Poly Humboldt 97-92 Tuesday night at New PE Building.
In a game were the lead changed 13 times, the game was tied nine times and no team led by more than seven points (the Lumberjacks led by seven at one point, WOU by six), the Wolves (4-4) trailed 62-58 with 15:08 left in the contest before a
Cameron Cranston jumper ignited a 12-2 run capped by a pair of Cranston free throws with 12:31 remaining to make it 70-64.
However, CPH (6-5) answered right after with a 14-2 run ended on a three-point play by Josh Berenbaum with 9:13 left to make it 78-72.
But the Wolves slowly chipped away and took an 88-87 lead with 2:33 left. Eventually the game was tied at 88 before a Jack bucket, WOU turnover and a CPH 3-pointer made it 93-88 Jacks with 1:06 left. A dunk by
Cameron Benzel with 59 seconds remaining cut the lead to a single possession at 93-90, but CPH ran the clock down and Bryce Mitchell hit a dagger 3-pointer with 29 seconds left to make it a six-point game and put the game away.
Cranston paced the Wolves with 22 points,
Yosani Clay had 15 points and four steals, Benzel finished with 14 points while
John Morrill-Keeler had a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds to go along with four assists, two steals and a block.
However, the stat of the night goes to
Qiant Myers as he finished with 13 assists, nine rebounds, five points and two steals. He is the first WOU player to reach double figures in assists since Julian Nichols on March 14, 2016, against UC San Diego and the 13 assists is the most since Nichols had 15 against Simon Fraser on Jan. 22, 2015.
The Wolves shot 51.9 percent from the field, however were just 8-for-28 from 3-point range (28.6 percent - meaning WOU was 32-for-49 from inside the arc, 65.3 percent). But the Wolves' downfall came at the line where they were just 4-for-11 (36.4 percent) compared to CPH going 13-for-17 (76.5 percent). The Jacks shot 53 percent from the field, and shot better from 3-point range - going 14-for-26 (53.8 percent).
WOU returns to action 6 p.m. (PT) Thursday as it travels to take on Division-I BYU in its final non-conference game of the season.