LACEY, Wash. – Having won four of their final six games of the regular season, the Western Oregon University men's basketball team begins the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships on Wednesday against Western Washington. WOU enters the tournament as the ninth seed in the conference. The teams will play in Lacey on Wednesday starting at 4:30 p.m.
WOU finishes the regular season 7-17 overall and 6-10 in GNAC play, going 3-5 at home and 4-12 on the road, posting a 4-9 mark in true road contests. The Wolves will see the Vikings for the third time since Feb. 10 and won both meetings during the regular season. WWU will be the eighth seed in the tournament. The other first round matchup will be seventh-seed Simon Fraser against 10th-seed Alaska Fairbanks.
Saint Martin's won the regular season title, while Northwest Nazarene came in second and Alaska Anchorage in third to round out the top-three. Montana State Billings will be the fourth-seed, Central Washington will be the fifth-seed and Seattle Pacific rounds out the top-six seeds to get a bye into the quarterfinals.
WOU played three games this past week cruising to the 24-point win over Western Washington and then picked up a big road win at Alaska Anchorage by seven points. The Wolves finished the week at Fairbanks with the Nanooks making a push in the second half for the six-point win.
WOU averages 72.4 points, making 637-1,459 (43.7) from the field, 220-602 (36.5) from three and 244-322 (75.8) from the foul line. The Wolves average 32.3 rebounds, 14.4 assists, 6.7 steals and 3.5 blocks per game. Opponents average 77.8 points, making 703-1,508 (46.6) from the field, 183-511 (35.8) from three and 277-381 (72.7) from the foul line. Opponents average 37.8 rebounds, 15.5 assists, 6.8 steals and 2.4 blocks.
Cameron Cranston enters the Championships as one of the top all-around players in the league. He averages 18.8 points, 5.5 rebounds, 49 assists, 35 steals and 32 blocks, while playing 37.5 minutes per game. Cranston has made 156 field goals, 62 three-pointers and 59 free throws. He leads the team in scoring, steals, blocks, field goals, three-pointers, free throws and minutes. Cranston ranks fourth in the GNAC in points per game, seventh in steals per game (1.5), sixth in three-point field goal percentage (44.3), third in three-point field goals per game (2.7), second in blocked shots per game (1.4), and leads the GNAC in minutes per game.
John Morrill-Keeler averages 11.5 points, 6.8 rebounds, 26 assists, 25 steals, 19 blocks and is shooting over 55 percent (109-198) from the field. Morrill-Keeler leads the team in rebounds and is second on the team in both field goals made (109) and free throws made (50). He ranks seventh in the GNAC in rebounds per game, ninth in field goal percentage, sixth in offensive rebounds per game (2.3), and ninth in defensive rebounds per game (4.5).
Yosani Clay is third on the team in scoring at 10.6 points per game, along with 3.9 rebounds, 59 assists, 28 steals, 92 field goals and 41 three-pointers. He is second on the team in assists and steals and is also third in field goals and three-pointers.
Tyreek Price is second on the team in three-pointers with 46, while averaging 8.6 points, 36 assists and has made 72 field goals. Daisone Hughes is averaging 7.3 points, 3.0 rebounds, 36 assists and 57 field goals. Elihu Cobb, who hasn't played since early January, was leading the team in field goal percentage (67.9) and was averaging 6.9 points and 3.8 rebounds, along with 12 blocks. Collin Warmouth is at 4.5 points and has made 13 three-pointers. Zach Moore tallied 3.1 points and 14 three-pointers, Antonio Salinas is at 3.0 points and has made 13 three-pointers, RJ Veliz has 2.9 points and 23 made field goals and Qiant Myers leads the team in assists with 94, while adding 18 steals, 2.7 points and 2.5 rebounds per game.
WOU defeated WWU in the first meeting of the season in an exciting 73-71 win in Bellingham. Cranston went for 27 points and Hughes just missed a double-double with 16 points and nine rebounds. Price hit what would turn out to be the game-winning shot with 20 seconds to play connecting on a three-pointer off an assist by Cranston.
Then 11 days later, the teams played in Monmouth and WOU cruised to the 89-65 victory. Cranston went for 20 points and seven rebounds, while Veliz tallied 17 points, Clay with 16 and both Price and Morrill-Keeler tallied 15 points apiece. Morrill-Keeler also went for a double-double with 12 rebounds.
Western Washington finished the regular season 14-13 overall and 7-10 in GNAC play, going 10-5 at home and 4-8 in road games, including a 3-6 mark in true road contests. The Vikings picked up two big road wins down the stretch against Montana State Billings and Seattle Pacific, before falling to WOU and then at Simon Fraser by two in the regular season finale.
Jalen Green continues to lead the way at 15.9 points, 6.4 rebounds, 42 assists, 25 blocks and 21 steals. He is shooting almost 55 percent from the field. Daniel Hornbuckle is at 13.9 points, along with 72 assists, 21 steals and has made 77 three-pointers. D'Angelo Minnis adds 12.4 points, 110 assists, 29 steals and 112 field goals. Luke Lovelady is at 11.0 points, 6.3 rebounds and is shooting 56 percent from the field.
If WOU wins and advances, they would then play Thursday against top-seed Saint Martin's on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in Lacey. The Wolves played the Saints in back-to-back games on Jan. 27 and Jan. 29 with Saint Martin's winning the first meeting in Lacey by 23 points and then in Monmouth by 22 points.
During the 2019-20 season, WOU faced Alaska Fairbanks in the quarterfinal round of the GNAC Championships as the Nanooks held on for the 91-88 victory. During the 2018-19 season, WOU went 2-1 in the GNAC Championships defeating Montana State Billings and top-seed Saint Martin's on the way to falling to Seattle Pacific in the title game.
This will be the first time WOU and WWU have played each other in the GNAC Championships since the 2016-17 season that was also played in Lacey with the Vikings taking the two-point victory.
Live video and stats will be available throughout the GNAC Championships.
For the game against Western Washington, click here for live video and here for live stats.
To purchase tickets to the GNAC Championships, click here
