WOU Men's Basketball Saint Martin's 93, Western Oregon 89‏

The Western Oregon men's basketball team will continue its early season homestand next week as it takes on Linfield, Saturday Nov. 29th at 7:00 PM.

Salem-News.com Sports

MONMOUTH, Ore. - In a game which saw 11 ties and 11 lead-changes, Saint Martin's was able to sneak by Western Oregon 93-89, to capture the championship at the WOU/Phoenix Inn D2 Shootout Saturday, Nov. 22nd.

The game was back-and-forth throughout as neither team ever held a lead larger than six points. Western Oregon committed 27 turnovers in the game but kept it close as it outrebounded SMU 40-34.

The loss was the first of the season for Western Oregon as it drops to 2-1. The victory improved the Saints record to 5-2.

Travis Kuhns led all scorers with 32 points as he converted on 16-of-19 free throw attempts and earned all-tournament honors for the Wolves. Freshman Kyle Long was the only other WOU student-athlete in double figures tonight as he scored 19 points on 7-of-9 shooting. Mike McLaughlin was also named an all-tournament performer as he followed up his 31-point performance last night with a team-best 13 rebounds to go along with eight points tonight. Sam Kelly and Kuhns led the Wolves in the assist department with five apiece.

Tournament MVP Bill Richardson had his second straight double-double with 24 points and 12 rebounds to lead five Saints in double-figure scoring; Jake Linton (20), Tyler Nixon (13), Blake Poole (12) and Jared Howard (10).

The first half was played very even on both sides as Western Oregon took a three-point lead into the locker room at 44-41. The Wolves had a 22 to 15 rebounding advantage in the half but was unable to pull away as they committed 18 turnovers to the Saints' nine. The extra possessions allowed Saint Martin's to take nine additional shots in the half but it converted on only 40 percent of its shots (14-35) including just 1-of-7 on three-pointers. The first half also featured five ties and four lead-changes. Kuhns led Western Oregon with 13 points in the half while Richardson put up 14 points to lead Saint Martin's.

Saint Martin's opened the second half on a 13-6 run to erase the halftime deficit and take a four-point lead. The Wolves would then come back with a 22-12 run of its own, which included seven points from Long, to match its largest lead of the game at six, 72-66. However, Saint Martin's still had a run left in them as it went on a 21-9 spurt to go up 87-81. The Wolves put on a push at the end and got the game back to 92-89 on a Kuhns' three-pointer with 0:07 remaining but could not get the steal on the inbounds and was forced to foul Tyler Nixon who made one of his two free throw attempts too seal the game for Saint Martin's.

"Our defense played very well in stretches tonight when we stuck to the defensive game plan," said head coach Craig Stanger, "but our offense was horrible. You can't go out and turn the ball over 27 times or nearly a third of your possessions against a good team if you want to win and that was a lesson we learned tonight."

The Western Oregon men's basketball team will continue its early season homestand next week as it takes on Linfield, Saturday Nov. 29th at 7:00 PM.

2008 WOU/Phoenix Inn D2 Shootout All-Tournament team:

LaVontay Fenderson, Wisconsin-Parkside

Andy Bocian, Chico State

Jake Linton, Saint Martin's

Bill Richardson, Saint Martin's (MVP)

Mike McLaughlin, Western Oregon

Travis Kuhns, Western Oregon

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