By: Jamal Smith 
Sports Editor

The Western men’s basketball team defeated Point Loma Nazarene University (PLNU) 82-76 on Friday, Nov. 13, 2015 in their first game of the regular season.

The first half was back-and-forth, and there were eight ties and six lead changes. With the score tied at 38-38 with 2:15 remaining till half time, the Sea Lions outscored the Wolves 10-4 to take a 48-42 lead into the break.

PLNU, with the momentum carrying over from the first half, continued to build on their lead until the Sea Lions had an 11 point advantage with the score at 61-50.

The Wolves would claw their way back into the game and go on a 7-0 run with a three-pointer from senior Devon Alexander (G) and a tip from Sophomore Tanner Omlid (F).

WOU would take the lead with a little over five minutes to play and never look back.

Omlid, who made his WOU debut, led all scorers with 28 points and shot an amazing 93 percent from the field, making 13 of 14 shots. Omlid also added eight rebounds and six steals.
Western had three other players beside Omlid that cracked double digits in scoring. Senior Julian Nichols (G) had 14 points, sophomore Alex Roth (G) had 13 points and Devon Alexander had 11 points.

Then on Saturday, Nov. 14, the Wolves defeated Fresno Pacific University (FPU) 82-73 to improve to 2-0 on the season.

The Sunbirds jumped out to an early lead in the first half with an 11-8 margin. The Wolves would buckle down and tie the score at 11-11 with a Kadeem Strickland (G) 3-pointer.

After taking the lead on the next possession, WOU would not look back, and kept the lead for the rest of the game.

Although FPU would finish the game with a higher shooting percentage of 48 percent from the field compared with Western’s 42 percent, the Wolves won the turnover battle 12 to 18. WOU also had 13 steals compared with FPU’s five.

Winning the turnover battle has been key for the Wolves in the first two regulation games. In both games, the Wolves have had a total of 21 turnovers and created 39 turnovers off of their opponents.

Alexander led Western in scoring with 17 points and also added four assists. The Wolves had three other players in double digits for scoring; Roth and Nichols both had 16 points and Omlid had 12 points.

The No. 21 ranked Wolves’ next two games are back-to-back home games. The first is against California State Monterey Bay University on Friday, Nov. 20 at 7 p.m. The second is on Saturday, Nov. 21 against Warner Pacific College also at 7 p.m.

2014-15 GNAC Player of the Year Andy Agvi (F) will make his season debut for Western, after sitting out the start of the season due to NCAA regulations as he was also playing on the football team.

Both games are held at the New P.E. Building. You can purchase tickets online or on game day at the box office.