• Final Stats
MONMOUTH, Ore. – Kolton Nelson scored 13 points, including a 3-pointer and two free throws in the final 39 seconds Thursday that lifted Western Oregon to a 64-58 men's basketball win over visiting Seattle Pacific in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference game at the New PE Building.
The Wolves (10-2) remained undefeated in three conference games while SPU (9-3) saw its league ledger drop to 1-2.
The Falcons trailed for most of the second half, but drew within 57-56 on a layup by
Andy Poling with 1:03 left in the game. Nelson answered on a trey with 39 seconds remaining.
Nelson responded to another Poling layup, at 0:20, converting two free throws with 17 seconds to play. WOU's Jamaal Veal capped the scoring on a pair of free throws with four seconds showing on the clock.
Kyle Long led the Wolves with 14 points, eight of them coming from 12 free throw attempts.
“A lot of credit goes to Western Oregon. They played extremely well,” said SPU coach
Ryan Looney. “They have some really good guards that not only made plays for themselves but their teammates as well.
“On the flip side we didn't have very good guard play. They pressured us, took us out of our stuff, and our guys couldn't necessarily handle it that well.”
The Falcons were forced into 19 turnovers, 11 of them off steals by WOU.
Poling grabbed nine rebounds, helping his team to a 28-27 lead in that category. He paced SPU with 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the field.
“It's going to sound crazy, but he almost should have had less attempts than he did based on how they were defending us,” Looney said of Poling, his 6-foot-11 post man.
“Every time it went inside they brought a double and dug on it. Legitimately every time our big got the ball in there they were guarded by three or four people and we were reluctant to throw the ball back out.”
David Downs added 12 points for SPU, which shot 50 percent in the first half (10 of 20) before cooling to 38 percent in the second (8 of 21) to finish at 44 percent for the game (18 of 41). The Falcons made 7 of 12 first-half 3-pointers and just 2 of 13 after halftime.
Western shot 47 percent from the field (20 of 43).
The Falcons got the game's first five points, but then fell behind for most of the first half. The trailed 30-21 before finishing the half with a 13-3 run. A 3-pointer by Downs with 26 seconds left gave SPU a 34-33 halftime edge.
The Seattle Pacific men close out the calendar year on Saturday with a 2 p.m. game against Saint Martin's in Lacey, Wash.
Looney considered how his team will be able regroup with a long bus ride home and just one day of practice followed by an afternoon game.
“It's going to be really difficult. We weren't sharp tonight and we're in a little bit of a crunch here with not very much time to get ourselves prepared to play another good team.”
NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Thursday, December 29, 2011
New PE Building/Monmouth, Ore.
at Western Oregon 64, Seattle Pacific 58
SEATTLE PACIFIC (9-3, 1-2 GNAC)
Anderson 2-5 1-2 6, Wall 3-8 0-0 8, Poling 6-8 5-9 17, Downs 2-8 6-6 12, Stockton 2-4 0-0 6, Morse 1-2 0-0 3, Dorman 1-4 0-0 3, Hutsen 1-2 1-2 3, Niang 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-41 13-19 58.
WESTERN OREGON (10-2, 3-0 GNAC)
Veal 1-3 3-4 6, Nelson 4-7 3-4 13, Gehring 2-3 1-2 5, Wheadon 4-6 0-0 8, Long 3-9 8-12 14, Freelander 2-8 3-3 8, White 2-3 0-0 4, McGill 1-1 0-0 3, Troxel 1-3 0-0 3. Totals 20-43 18-25 64.
Seattle Pacific........ 34 24 - 58
Western Oregon......... 33 31 - 64
3-point goals--SPU 9-25 (Downs 2-6, Stockton 2-3, Wall 2-7, Dorman 1-3, Anderson 1-4, Morse 1-2), WOU 6-12 (Nelson 2-4, Troxel 1-3, McGill 1-1, Freelander 1-1, Veal 1-1, Wheadon 0-1, Long 0-1). Fouled out--SPU-None, WOU-None. Rebounds--SPU 28 (Poling 9), WOU 27 (Veal 6). Assists--SPU 13 (Dorman 3), WOU 9 (Long 3, Freelander 3). Total fouls--SPU 19, WOU 19. Technical fouls--SPU-None, WOU-None. A-424.
Next game
Seattle Pacific at Saint Martin's
Saturday, Dec. 31, 2:00 p.m.
Marcus Pavilion; Lacey, Wash.
