Men’s basketball tested in Alaska

By: Burke De Boer
Sports Editor

The Wolves had their most dominant win of the season in Fairbanks on Saturday, Jan. 21, and came away from a trip to Alaska with a win and a loss.

Junior guard Demetrius Trammell impressed in both games in Alaska, first scoring a team-high of 17 against the University of Alaska Anchorage Seawolves, then contributing 15 against the Alaska Nanooks.

But even a 17 point performance from Trammell wasn’t enough to top the Seawolves in their Thursday night game.

It wasn’t the only point of frustration: the Wolves had deeper team play, with the bench putting up 40 points while UAA’s only scored 15. The two teams committed the same amount of turnovers but Western was more efficient with their opportunities. They scored 22 points off of turnovers while the Seawolves could only manage 16.

Despite all this, Western lost 73-81.

On the heels of the game that should have been theirs, the Wolves came out quick against the Nanooks. A three-pointer from Ali Faruq-Bey opened the scoring at 15 seconds and they never gave up the lead.

At 83-51, the Wolves put up with the widest margin of victory they’ve had all season.

Bryan Berg lead the scoring with 22, while Tanner Omlid and Akil Reese contributed 19 and 14 points respectively. Trammell and Faruq-Bey rounded out the top scorers, with Faruq-Bey putting up 9 points throughout the game.

The Wolves are on the road again this week, traveling to Northwest Nazarene and Central Washington.

They now sit at 9-9 on the season, and their 6-4 record in the GNAC ranks them fifth in the conference

Contact the author at journalsports@wou.edu