LACEY, Wash. – It looked like the Western Oregon University men's basketball team was ready to pull out another late victory and advance. Trailing by double-digits in the second half, the Wolves once again made a push to pull to within a point late. WOU had a chance at the buzzer for the winner, but the shot just missed and Central Washington survived for the 65-64 win in the semifinals of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships on Friday.
Down by 14 with 11:29 to play, WOU (9-18) began to make their comeback. Cameron Cranston and Daisone Hughes hit back-to-back three-pointers for a quick 6-0 run. Following a basket by Central Washington (17-8), Cranston hit a jumper in the paint and Hughes hit two from the line to cut the deficit to six.
The Wildcats made another run and had the lead back out to 13 with just 4:55 to play. This didn't bother the Wolves, as they again dug deep and got right back into the contest. Tyreek Price countered with a three-pointer and after Price hit a jumper, Cranston hit two from the line to cut the lead down to six. John Morrill-Keeler then turned a steal into a transition dunk to trim the lead to four. Following two free throws by CWU, Cranston got loose near the Wolves' bench and drilled another long ball to pull the Wolves to within three with a minute to play.
WOU came up with another defensive stop forcing a turnover with Hughes stealing the in-bounds pass and finding Yosani Clay who broke free for a transition dunk to cut the lead to one with 21 seconds to play.
The Wolves brought the full court pressure and tried for a few steals, but eventually had to commit a couple of fouls to push the Wildcats into the bonus. With 12 seconds left, the front end of the one-and-one was missed and Cranston grabbed the rebound. WOU pushed the ball up the floor and eventually found Cranston with time ticking down. Once again out near the WOU bench, he faced a double-team and still was able to get a pretty good look at a potential game-winning three. The shot just missed off the back rim and time expired with the Wildcats hanging on for the 65-64 victory.
Central Washington held the early 12-4 lead nearly five minutes in. WOU cut the deficit back to three a couple of times in the first half, at 12-9 on a triple by Price and then just past the midway point on a jumper by Collin Warmouth at 20-17. The Wildcats outscored the Wolves by seven the remainder of the half to take a 37-27 halftime lead.
During the early moments of the second half, WOU had the deficit down to seven several times including at the 14:45 mark on a jumper by Price. The Wildcats then stretched the lead out to 14 to setup the exciting finish.
Price led the Wolves with 19 points, going 7-12 from the field in his final game. Cranston was approaching a double-double with 17 points and eight rebounds. Hughes tallied 11 points, while Morrill-Keeler went for 10 points and seven rebounds. WOU went 25-57 (43.9) from the field, but just 7-26 (26.9) on three-point tries. The Wolves went 7-9 (77.8) at the foul line. WOU held a 9-4 edge in fastbreak points.
Matt Poquette led the Wildcats with 14 points and seven rebounds. Xavier Smith, the GNAC Player of the Year, was limited to 13 points. David Thompson and Colby Gennett added 12 points apiece. CWU went 27-62 (43.5) from the field, 3-10 (30) from three and 8-9 (88.9) at the foul line. They utilized points off turnovers (16-6) and second chance points (10-4).
It was an impressive end of the season run for the Wolves, as they won four of six to end the regular season and then defeated both eighth-seed Western Washington and top-seed and host Saint Martin's to reach the semifinals of the GNAC Championships.
