BURNABY, B.C. – Trailing by 13 nearly six minutes into the second half, the Western Oregon University men's basketball team flipped the script and outscored Simon Fraser 38-12 the remainder of the game to take the 76-63 Great Northwest Athletic Conference victory Saturday afternoon inside West Gym.
Simon Fraser (10-9, 5-6 GNAC) was in control holding a 51-38 lead at the 14:19 mark of the second half. WOU (5-15, 4-8 GNAC) then stormed back and never looked back. Yosani Clay answered with a jumper on the next trip down the floor and then a four-point play by Cameron Cranston had the deficit to seven.
Still trailing by five with six minutes to play, the Wolves made their final push to claim the victory. John Morrill-Keeler, on his way to a double-double on the afternoon, tallied a pair of free throws and then a layup by Morrill-Keeler had WOU within a point. He continued his six-point scoring burst answering a free throw by SFU with another layup to tie the game.
Tyreek Price then moved WOU in front for good with 3:34 to play connecting on a three-pointer off of a steal by Qiant Myers. Cranston added a jumper and then off a steal by Price, he found Myers for the transition layup to push the lead to seven at 65-58 with 2:15 to play.
Simon Fraser came back with two free throws on the next trip down the floor, but that would be the final points of the game for SFU with WOU sinking eight straight free throws down the stretch to secure the victory.
Early on, WOU scored the first four points of the game with Price and Cranston scoring on back-to-back possessions. SFU pushed back to take an 11-8 lead and after the teams traded leads, the Wolves had the advantage out to five at 18-13 on a jumper by Antonio Salinas near the midway point of the first half.
Simon Fraser answered with a 9-0 run and closed the opening half on a 26-12 run to turn a five-point deficit into a 39-30 lead at halftime.
SFU then kept the lead around double-digits throughout the early parts of the second half before WOU stormed back to take the victory.
Morrill-Keeler collected a double-double with 20 points and 11 rebounds, along with three steals and two assists in 37 minutes. Cranston added 19 points in 38 minutes. Price also logged 38 minutes, coming away with 13 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals. Myers gave the Wolves four in double-figures with 10 points, along with three rebounds, three steals and three assists in 30 minutes. Yosani Clay came off the bench to add six points and five rebounds. WOU went 28-53 (52.8) from the field, 7-13 (53.8) from three and 13-14 (92.9) at the foul line. The Wolves held a big advantage in points off turnovers (22-9) and also led in points in the paint (38-34).
Julian Roche paced Simon Fraser with 14 points and eight rebounds. Josiah Mastandrea added 12 points. Jahmal Wright and Wilfried Balata each went for nine points. SFU went 26-57 (45.6) from the field, 7-24 (29.2) from three and 4-9 (44.4) at the foul line.
WOU will return home to host three straight GNAC games beginning on Thursday against Central Washington starting at 5:15 p.m. inside New PE Gym. The Wolves will also host Northwest Nazarene on Saturday for Senior Day at 4:15 p.m. and then close the homestand on Monday versus Western Washington starting at 3 p.m.
