Lake Larsen | Sports Editor

With a break full of up and down games, the Wolves were in need of another win to help climb the GNAC rankings. After a narrow loss to Alaska Anchorage University in the days leading up to their match with Alaska Fairbanks on Jan. 5, the Wolves hoped to end their trip up north with a win. The Nanooks had recently edged out Alaska Fairbanks in one of their previous games, showing the Wolves that this match shouldn’t be a walk in the park.

Right out of the gates, the Wolves established dominance over the Nanooks. Western quickly soared to a staggering double digit lead before Alaska Fairbanks scored a single point. Western’s offense had hit their stride before the Nanook’s defense had a chance to adjust. Just four short minutes into the game, the Wolves jumped to a 15 point lead.

While the Wolves started to run away with the game since the first whistle, Alaska Fairbanks didn’t just roll over. Halfway into the first half the immense lead owned by the Wolves had been cut to only seven. This may have looked like the beginning of a comeback, but minutes later showed it was anything but.

The Monmouth men’s lead never dipped that low for the rest of the half. Precision shooting resulted in another run for the Wolves midway through the half. With a 20 point lead, the Nanooks offense finally woke up and started fighting back. But another run took the lead back to 20 before settling at 18 at the end of the half.

The second half showed no signs of Western’s offensive momentum slowing. While Alaska Fairbanks was finally starting to establish an offensive presence, any hope of a comeback seemed squashed by the unrelenting offense of the Wolves. Western stretched their lead to massive 23 points. At the end of the match Western finished on top 97-80, never having trailed.

Contact the author at howlsports@wou.edu

Photo courtesy of Ashlynn Norton