By: Burke De Boer Sports Editor
Men’s basketball won the final home game of the season and will enter the GNAC title tournament as the third seed.
The win came in the form of a 72-56 thumping of Montana State Billings.
Four players scored in the double digits, as Tanner Omlid hit the team-high 17 points, Ali Faruq-Bey and Demetrius Trammell each scored 11, and senior Evan Garrison scored 10 points in the last regular season game of his Wolves career.
The Wolves defense held Montana State to a .315 shooting percentage on the night.
The Wolves play Montana State again on Thursday in the first round of the GNAC Championships. The quarterfinal matchup will be the third time the teams play each other this year, after splitting the regular season series with a win a piece.
The tournament plays in Lacey, Washington. The other quarterfinal matchup pits St. Martin’s against Concordia. The top two seeds are Western Washington and Alaska Anchorage, and both have earned byes with automatic berths into the Friday semifinals.
The tournament promises thrills, as Western Oregon has played balanced against the other top teams this season. The only exceptions are Western Washington, who swept the Wolves, and St. Martin’s, whom the Wolves swept.
The tournament winner qualifies for the NCAA West Regional, which includes two other conference champions and five at-large bids in the eight-school playoff. At last rankings, Wolves were on the cusp of qualifying, ranking tenth.
Coming off the heels of the big win, Western Oregon at least has the psychological advantage over Montana State Billings.
Contact the author at journalsports@wou.edu
