Box Score |
Final Stats (html)MONMOUTH, Ore. – Andy Avgi scored six of his season-high 34 points during overtime Thursday for 14th-ranked Western Oregon, which dealt No. 24 Seattle Pacific its third straight setback with a 96-90 Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's basketball win at the New PE Building.
After forging a nine-game winning streak, the Falcons (9-4) dropped their last three contests by a combined 12 points, and fell to 2-3 in league play. They went to extra time for a second consecutive visit to Monmouth after losing 94-84 in double overtime in the last meeting between these two teams, on Jan. 31, 2015.
The defending GNAC regular-season champion Wolves (11-2) improved to 4-1 in conference outings.
Turnovers proved to be the difference as Western converted 12 SPU miscues into 16 points while the Falcons countered with just six points on six turnovers.
SPU overcame an 18-point first-half deficit and outscored the Wolves 50-35 during the second half to force overtime. Senior guard
Brendan Carroll scored all of his 18 points during the second half for the Falcons.
"Brendan did a good job knocking down shots when he got opportunities," said SPU coach
Ryan Looney. "It's nice to see him getting himself back healthy again and able to contribute in that way."
The visitors trailed 54-41 midway through the second half before Carroll scored 12 of his team's next 20 points to bring them within 61-57 with 6:20 left in regulation.
When
Bryce Leavitt nailed a pair of free throws with 12.5 seconds left, SPU trailed by just one point at 76-75.
WOU's Julian Nichols missed the second of two free throws just inside the 10-second mark of regulation, setting up a driving layup by Leavitt with 2.3 seconds showing that sent the game to extra time.
The Wolves hit all five of their shots in overtime while holding SPU at 4-for-10.
Avgi made a reverse layup 39 seconds into overtime and, following two free throws from the Falcons'
Gilles Dierickx, put WOU ahead for good with a similar short basket.
The Wolves netted their final seven points from the free throw line. After Jordan Wiley drained two free throws at 1:26 to put them up 91-81, they converted 5 of 10 charity shots inside the final minute to secure the victory.
Dierickx amassed a career-high 25 points, on 9-for-17 shooting, to lead the Falcons.
"Gilles was great on the offensive end. He scored a bunch in big moments for us on the block and he did a better job than he has all year on the offensive glass," Looney said. "The reality of it is, though, he needed to provide a little bit more resistance defensively."
Bryce LeavittLeavitt had an outstanding all-around game. The senior guard contributed 18 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists and two steals.
Avgi made 15 off 22 shots, finishing two shy of his 36-point career high. Nichols scored 23 points for WOU, which also got 15 from Tanner Omlid and 13 from Devon Alexander.
In the first half, SPU came up empty on its first three possessions, with two missed shots and a turnover, enabling the Wolves to open a 7-0 lead. The hosts hit 4 of their first 5 shots to surge ahead 10-2.
"Western Oregon is a very good team, but we have guys that we are counting on that right now don't want to compete," Looney described. "We were down 10 points three minutes into the game. We were playing catch-up the entire time.
"The message we were sending the entire time was we wanted to find five guys that were willing to compete and we'd led them play. As the game went on, we found that."
After back-to-back baskets by the Falcons
Mitch Penner and
Garrett Swanson, WOU reeled off 11 unanswered points. A 3-point pointer by Avgi capped the run, providing a 21-6 advantage with 12:46 left in the first half.
Western's margin was 18 points before the visitors scored seven straight, the final four from reserve
Coleman Wooten, to close within 32-21 at 5:38. The Wolves extended the lead out to 42-27 by halftime as Avgi scored their final eight points of the period.
The Falcons suffered through a similar three-game losing skid during GNAC play last season, but that didn't prevent them from earning an NCAA Division II Tournament berth. They advanced to the West Regional semifinals. An SPU men's basketball team hasn't loss four consecutive games since the 1996-97 season.
"Right now we're just focused on the next day, which is practice to help us get ready for the next game," said Looney. "All we're focused on right now is finding a way to get ourselves back to the team that was playing so hard before Christmas break.
"We just need to find a way to compete at the beginning of the game."
The SPU men conclude their two-game swing through Oregon with a contest in Portland on Saturday at 7 p.m. They play their first ever game at Concordia, the newest member of the GNAC.
NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALLThursday, Jan. 7, 2016New PE Building / Monmouth, Ore. at #14 Western Oregon 96, #24 Seattle Pacific 90 (ot) SEATTLE PACIFIC (9-4, 2-3 GNAC)Penner 2-3 0-0 5, Swanson 2-7 4-4 8, Dierickx 9-17 7-8 25, Leavitt 6-10 6-6 18, Parker 1-5 0-0 3, Carroll 6-15 4-4 18, Wooten 3-5 0-1 6, Rasmussen 1-2 1-2 3, Colosimo 1-2 0-0 2, Betu 1-1 0-0 2, Streufert 0-0 0-0 0, Simpson 0-1 0-1 0. Totals 32-68 22-26 90.
WESTERN OREGON (11-2, 4-1 GNAC)Wiley 1-4 4-5 6, Avgi 15-22 3-5 34, Alexander 4-10 3-6 13, Roth 1-6 2-6 5, Nichols 7-11 7-11 23, Omlid 6-7 2-2 15, Strickland 0-0 0-0 0, Thompson 0-0 0-0 0, Alaby 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 34-62 21-35 96.
Seattle Pacific............... 27 50 13 - 90
Western Oregon................ 42 35 19 - 963-point goals--SPU 4-17 (Carroll 2-7, Penner 1-1, Parker 1-3, Wooten 0-1, Rasmussen 0-1, Simpson 0-1, Swanson 0-3), WOU 7-18 (Nichols 2-5, Alexander 2-5, Avgi 1-3, Roth 1-2, Omlid 1-1, Alaby 0-1, Wiley 0-1).
Fouled out--SPU-Swanson, WOU-Omlid.
Rebounds--SPU 42 (Leavitt 10), WOU 29 (Alexander 7).
Assists--SPU 12 (Leavitt 7), WOU 11 (Nichols 6).
Total fouls--SPU 27, WOU 25.
Technical fouls--SPU-None, WOU-None.
Att-808.
Next SPU Men's Basketball GameSeattle Pacific at Concordia (Ore.)
Saturday, Jan. 9, 7:00 p.m. PST
Cavalier Court / Portland, Ore.
