By: Jamal Smith Sports Editor
As the men’s basketball team entered their home game on Saturday, Jan. 30 against Central Washington University (CWU), the New Year’s Eve loss to the Wildcats stuck in the back of their minds.
The Wildcats would later find out that revenge is a dish best served cold as the Wolves went on to defeat CWU 85-68.
Redshirt senior Andy Avgi (F), who last week earned his third GNAC Player of the Week honor of the 2015-16 season, had a game-high of 27 points. Avgi filled up the stat sheet with seven rebounds, four assists, and four steals.
Four other Wolves hit the double-digit mark in scoring: senior Devon Alexander (G) had 17 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the floor, while Senior Julian Nichols (G), senior Jordan Wiley (G) and redshirt-sophomore Alex Roth (G) each had 10 points.
CWU came out firing on all cylinders after the opening tip, and had an 8-2 advantage early in the first half.
Western weathered the storm and closed in on the Wildcats lead by shooting high percentage shots in the paint. Alexander evened the score at 22-22 with a layup and would hit a free throw to give the Wolves a one-point advantage.
Western would finish the half up 38-29, their largest lead of the first half.
The momentum from the first half carried over into final period and the Wolves continued to build on their lead with hot shooting from Avgi and great team ball. With 9:12 remaining in the game, the Wolves increased their lead to 71-46 on an Alexander three-pointer.
The lead proved to be too large for the Wildcats to come back from and the Wolves cruised to victory. In the second half, the Wolves shot a blistering 0.643 percent from the floor including going 4-of-8 from beyond the arch.
Western held CWU to a field goal percentage of 0.356 from the floor and 0.308 from distance. The Wolves shot 0.579 (33-of-57) from the floor, finishing the game with their best shooting percentage of the year.
Equally impressive was the fact that the Wolves only coughed up five turnovers in the game, with four coming in the first half and only one in the final 20 minutes of the game.
The redemption victory improves Western’s overall record to 18-2 and 11-1 in GNAC conference play. With eight games remaining on their schedule, the Wolves find themselves in a very good position to make the College Basketball Division II playoffs.
Up next the Wolves hit the road to face Seattle Pacific University on Saturday, Feb. 6. The next home game is on Thursday, Feb. 11 against the Western Washington Vikings in the New P.E. Building.
