Monday, December 18, 2017
PORTLAND, Ore. – It takes great resilience to win a game on a long road trip and then turn around and score a big conference win at home. That’s exactly what Western Oregon’s men’s basketball team did to earn Red Lion/GNAC Team of the Week honors.
The Wolves improved to 10-1 on the season with the two victories. Playing in Stephenville, Texas, on Tuesday, the Wolves put together a 51-percent shooting performance from the field to take an 80-72 victory at Tarleton State. Five days later, Western Oregon improved to 2-1 in conference play and handed Alaska Anchorage its first conference loss with as the Wolves clobbered the Seawolves 82-50.
In the two contests, the Wolves averaged 81 points per game, shot 58.2 percent from the field and 75 percent from the free throw line.
Western Oregon head coach Jim Shaw was impressed by his team’s effort in both contests, but is continually looking ahead. “I thought we played well against Anchorage. They were obviously impacted by injuries, but we’ve made progress the last couple of weeks and we shared the ball well and played unselfishly,” Shaw said. “It was a good road win down at Tarleton because we needed a close game one way or another and we were able to play through some adversity.
“Tomorrow we have Alaska. They are on a nice roll so it will be key to perform well and go into the holidays on a good note,” Shaw added.
At Tarleton State, Western Oregon shot 50.9 percent from the field and did most of its damage inside, scoring 34 points in the paint. The Wolves shot 60 percent from the field and took all 18 of its free throws, making 15, in the second half. Senior guard Demetrius Trammell led four WOU players to score in double-figures with 16 points. Senior forward Tanner Omlid added 15 points, senior forward Vince Boumann scored 14 points and senior forward JJ Chirnside came off the bench to score 10.
On Sunday, the Wolves succeeded in limiting Alaska Anchorage to 27.5 percent shooting from the field and 19 percent from three-point range. Offensively, WOU surged to make 65 percent from the field and blistered the nets for 69.2 percent shooting in the second half. Fifty-eight of the Wolves’ 82 points came in the paint and 45 of those points came from bench performers. Boumann led Western Oregon with 15 points, making 7 of 9 from the field, while senior guard Ali Faruq-Bey scored 12 points in 15 minutes off the bench.
Western Oregon will finish its pre-holiday schedule on Tuesday, hosting Alaska. Following the break, the Wolves return to play on Tues., Jan. 2, against Willamette Valley rival Concordia.