• FINAL STATS (html)

MONMOUTH, Ore. – Tanner Omlid headlined a great all-around personal performance with 32 points Thursday for fourth-ranked Western Oregon, which gained control in the second half en route to a 95-81 win over Seattle Pacific in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's basketball matchup at the New PE Building.
 
The Falcons (13-9) started their four-game road trip with a loss to fall to 8-7 in league play. They led by as many as eight points in the first half and the game was tied 48-48 at halftime.
 
Omlid played the entire game and compiled seven assists, five rebounds, five steals and five blocked shots. The senior forward was the 2017 GNAC Defensive Player of the Year.
 
His 32-point effort was two shy of the career-high 34 points he registered last season at SPU.
 
"Tanner Omlid has such a great feel for the ball and he is able to make so many plays on the ball," said SPU coach Grant Leep. "He had five blocks and five steals, he just does so many things to get his team extra possessions.
 
"He's quicker than you think he is, he can make some difficult shots and he can get a shot off. He's ultra competitive. That's probably the greatest asset he has, that he can rise to the occasion."
 
The Wolves (22-1) notched their 15th consecutive win, improving to 14-1 in GNAC play and extending their streak over SPU to eight straight victories. They broke the game open early in the second half with a run of 13 unanswered points.
 
Nathan Streufert had drawn the Falcons within 57-54 on a layup three minutes into the half. But the visitors didn't score again for over four minutes, missing four straight shots before committing a series of four turnovers.
 
During the SPU drought, Western got five points from Ali Faruq-Bey and four apiece from Malik Morgan and Riley Hawken to surge to a 70-54 lead with 12:42 left to play.
 
SPU never got closer than eight points the rest of the way despite holding the Wolves to just two baskets during the final nine minutes.
 
WOU secured the game by sinking 14 of 16 free throws over the final 6:17. Eight of those late free throws came from Faruq-Bey, who was 12-for-12 overall from the stripe and finished with 25 points.
 
Morgan added 16 points for the Wolves and Vince Boumann had 10.
 
"We turned it over 17 times tonight and that led to 21 points. As good as they are, when you give them that many extra opportunities it just comes back and gets you," Leep said. "Western Oregon played a lot more zone in the second half.
 
"They did a nice job in the zone of disrupting our rhythm and our flow on offense, but we did get the ball into some pretty good spots in that zone where it is vulnerable. We just didn't make the right plays consistently enough."

 

Streufert led five Falcons double-figure scorers with 17 points. Nikhil Lizotte contributed 13 points while Gavin Long and Braden Olsen each tallied 11.
 
Coleman Wooten had 10 points to go along with 10 rebounds for his first double-double of the season and eighth of his career.
 
"I have such a great respect for Coleman as a competitor. He's really stepped up and played so many different positions and so many different spots," Leep said. "Tonight we had him guarding one of the best field goal percentage guys in the conference in Vince Boumann and Coleman did a really good job. He did a lot for us tonight and played very well."
 
SPU shot 35 percent (9 of 26) in the second half to drop to 49 percent for the game (26 of 53) after a hot early shooting display.
 
The first half was an offensive show on both sides. Omlid compiled 22 first-half points, many of them on fastbreak layups after some of his five steals. He hit 10 of 14 shots in the opening 20-minute period, helping the hosts shoot 54 percent (20 of 27).
 
The Falcons countered with 63-percent first-half accuracy (17 of 27). Strefert and Olsen each tallied nine points in the period.
 
"Our kids did a good job with what Western Oregon was trying to do to us defensively. We got a lot of our primary reads and made some really good plays," Leep described. "Our guys do a good job of sharing the ball. We were able to attack them in ball screens.
 
"We found a really nice rhythm in the first half. We were getting to the free throw line we got a lot of good shots and were getting into the paint."
 
The Wolves raced out to a 12-7 lead to start the game before going cold. They were scoreless on seven straight possessions with five missed shots and two turnovers. SPU capitalized by reeling off 12 unanswered points, seven of them from Lizotte, to claim a 19-12 advantage with 11:51 left in the half.
 
Western closed the first half with an 11-3 run, capped by a driving layup from Morgan, to level the score entering intermission, 48-48.
 
The SPU men remain in Oregon and will be in Portland on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. for a meeting with Concordia.
 
Leep says his team will be focused for Saturday's game as his staff will have the Falcons prepared.
 
"My assistants, Kegan (Bone) and Matt (Borton), do such a good job of getting our guys ready to play with scouting. The stuff that they prepare is just spot on. I have so much confidence in our group and their ability to handle what we'll throw at them in scouting Friday."
 
The Cavaliers (4-18) are winless in 15 GNAC games, but two of their last four setbacks were one-point decisions. On Jan. 11 in Seattle, Concordia got 27 points from Jarrett Gray in a narrow 74-72 loss to SPU.
 
"The biggest thing for us is to improve defensively. Jarrett Gray, the first time we played them, was terrific in Seattle," Leep said. "We obviously need to do a lot better job on him without letting any of the other guys get going.
 
"For sure Concordia is better than its record. We need to have that tough, gritty mindset going into this game knowing that this is a team that is hungry to get a conference win and this is their next opportunity. We have to be ready to handle that."
 
The next home game for the Falcons is Feb. 22 with a 7:30 p.m. contest against Central Washington.
 
 
NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL
Thursday, Feb. 8, 2018
New PE Building / Monmouth, Ore.
 
at (#4) Western Oregon 95, Seattle Pacific 81
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (13-9, 8-7 GNAC)
Wooten 3-9 4-6 10, Streufert 5-7 7-9 17, Cavell 3-7 1-1 7, Colosimo 2-8 2-2 6, Long 4-5 3-3 11, Eisenhower 1-3 3-3 6, Lizotte 4-6 2-2 13, Olsen 4-7 2-4 11. Totals 26-53 24-30 81.
 
WESTERN OREGON (22-1, 14-1 GNAC)
Omlid 13-23 5-6 32, Boumann 5-8 0-0 10, Morgan 6-11 2-4 16, Faruq-Bey 5-11 12-12 25, Hawken 2-6 2-4 8, Tremmell 1-5 0-0 2, Nestell 0-0 0-0 0, Alaby 0-1 0-0 0, Triano 0-0 0-0 0, Evans 0-0 0-0 0, Lubom 0-1 0-0 0, Chirnside 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 33-68 21-26 95.
 
Seattle Pacific...............   48   33  -   81
Western Oregon................   48   47  -   95
 
3-point goals—SPU 5-13 (Lizotte 3-4, Olsen 1-2, Eisenhower 1-3, Wooten 0-2, Colosimo 0-2), WOU 8-25(Faruq-Bey 3-6 Hawken 2-4, Morgan 2-4, Omlid 1-7, Chirnside 0-1, Trammell 0-3). Fouled out—SPU-Long, WOU-None. Rebounds—SPU 33 (Wooten 10), WOU 33 (Morgan, Boumann, Hawken 6). Assists—SPU 12 (Wooten 4), WOU 16 (Omlid 7). Total fouls—SPU 23, WOU 26. Technical fouls--SPU-None, WOU-Lubom. A-851.
 
 
Next SPU Men's Basketball Game
Seattle Pacific at Concordia (Ore.)
Saturday, Feb. 10, 7:30 p.m. PST
LCEF Court / Portland, Ore.