By:Jamal Smith Sports Editor
1,100 fans packed the New P.E. Building on Saturday, Jan. 9 to watch the No. 13 Wolves defeat Saint Martin’s University (SMU) 74-61.
The Wolves had three players in double figures. Redshirt-senior Andy Avgi (F) led Western in scoring with 24 points. Senior Jordan Wiley (G) filled up the stat sheet with 16 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 assists, and redshirt-sophomore Alex Roth (G) tallied 10 points on 4-6 shooting from the floor.
“Andy Avgi is a tremendous offensive force, and I thought Jordan Wiley really played like a senior with 7 rebounds and 2 assists with no turnovers,” said Head Coach Jim Shaw after the game. “I thought he did a good job and I thought some guys made progress off the bench. Kadeem Strickland did some good things and it was good to get Nick [Nestell] back.”
After the Saints scored the first basket of the game on the opening possession, Western answered by hitting their first two shots to take the lead; a lead the Wolves would hold the rest of the game.
Western hit seven shots from beyond the arch in the first half and took a 35-30 lead into half time.
In the second half, the Wolves buckled down defensively and Avgi, the 2014-15 GNAC Player of the Year, caught fire. Avgi had 16 second-half points and played tough defense against the Saint’s big man, seven foot center Fred Jorg.
“Usually I guard people that are taller than me, but he had more weight on me. I think that he is around three-hundred pounds to my two-seventy, and that was a real load on defense,” said Avgi after the game. “It really got me tired at times, but I just kept on going at him and I think he only shot one for three. If I can do that against bigger guys I think we will do great.”
Western’s lead ballooned to 20 points with 6:46 remaining for the game, but SMU chipped away at the lead, and looked to bring Western’s advantage to single digits. Avgi’s 3-pointer with just over two minutes remaining all but sealed the Wolves’ victory.
The Wolves shot 0.431 from the floor and 0.387 from long range and out-rebounded the Saints 36-34. Ball security and limiting turnovers were also a key factor.
“I thought that we didn’t have the level of energy in the first half that I thought we needed and I thought that we picked that up in the second half,” said Coach Shaw. “The best thing that we did today was not turning the ball over. We only had five turnovers for the entire game, which is hard to do.”
“We defended the interior better tonight than we have. I think that we need to improve our three point defense. They were 8 from 23, which I would have liked to see that about 6 for 23,” added Coach Shaw. “Overall I think we played solid, just not great.”
The victory improves the Wolves’ overall record to 12-2 and 5-1 in GNAC conference play.
After dropping two out of the last three games prior to the start of the week, the Wolves got back on track with a 96-90 overtime victory on Thursday, Jan. 7 against Seattle Pacific University and have now won three in a row.
Avgi’s 34 point performance on Thursday’s game combined with his 24 point performance against the Saint’s, earned Western’s big man the GNAC Player of the Week honor.
Up next, Avgi and the Wolves travel north to play Western Washington University on Saturday, Jan. 16. The next home game is on Thursday, Jan. 21 against the University of Alaska Anchorage at 7 p.m. in the New P.E. Building.
