WOU Men's Basketball: Western Oregon 72, Montana State Billings 71‏

The Western Oregon men's basketball team will now head to Central Washington to take on the Wildcats Saturday, at 7:00 p.m.

Salem-News.com Sports

MONMOUTH, Ore. - Matt Schmidt hit one of two free throws with 2.1 seconds remaining to propel the Western Oregon University men's basketball team to a 72-71 victory over Montana State Billings, Thursday, Feb. 5.

The win snapped the Wolves six-game losing streak as they improved to 10-11 on the season and 2-6 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. With the loss, the Yellowjackets fell to 9-10 on the year and to 4-4 in league.

Western Oregon's Travis Kuhns led all scorers with 20 points. He went seven of 11 from the field and three of five from behind the arc. Schmidt came off the bench to notch a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Blair Wheadon and Kyle also posted double-figures with 13 and 10 points, respectively.

The game was tied at 37 apiece at halftime but the Yellowjackets opened the second half on a 9-2 run to take its largest lead of the half at 48-42. The game would remain between four and six points until WOU put on a 10-2 run to take its first lead of the half and go on top 70-65 with 2:31 remaining. MSUB would answer right back with a Travis Bunker three-pointer to pull within two at 70-68.

Both teams failed to convert on its next three possessions but after a Mike McLaughlin shot went long, Sam Kelly grabbed the offensive rebound and was fouled sending him to the line for two shots. He sank one of the two to put WOU up by three at 71-68. On the ensuing possession, Montana State Billings found Michael Hall at the top of the key for a three-point basket to tie the game at 71-71 with 0:19 remaining.

Western Oregon brought the ball up the floor and found Kuhns on the wing. He took the ball to the basket but his shot fell off the rim. Schmidt and the rest of the Wolves crashed the boards and the offensive rebound found its way into Schmidt's hands and he was fouled sending him to the line for two free throws. After a MSUB timeout, Schmidt sank the first free throw to put WOU up one. He then missed the second and the Yellowjackets were unable to put up another shot.

"As a bench guy you have to be ready when you get our chance," said Schmidt. "All week the coaches had talked to us about toughness and I focused on bringing that off the bench."

Both teams were very evenly matched as MSUB shot .500 percent from the floor compared to .473 percent for WOU. The difference in the game was that Western Oregon was able to get to the charity stripe 21 times and convert on 14 free throws while Montana State Billings attempted just seven free throws (5-7).

"Getting out of a losing streak can be difficult but our guys fought hard, stayed focused and stuck with the game plan," said head coach Craig Stanger. "We responded to their runs with mental toughness and did not get down. This was a great overall effort by our guys."

Stanger would continue; "You have to have depth in this league and it was huge for us to get 26 of our 72 points from our bench tonight."

The Western Oregon men's basketball team will now head to Central Washington to take on the Wildcats Saturday, at 7:00 p.m.

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