Wolves win bolsters GNAC standing

The Men's Basketball team finished the weekend with a win against University of Alaska Fairbanks on Saturday, Jan. 21, after a second loss in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) against University of Alaska Anchorage on Thursday, Jan. 19. 

Alaska Anchorage beat Western 66-55, which was Western's second-lowest scoring game in a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division II game next to scoring 53 points in the opening game against Chaminade University, according to the Western athletic site. However, Western came back to beat Alaska Fairbanks 80-67.

Men's Basketball head coach Brady Bergeson said, "you always have a new day to get up, and you have to get better. The trick is, whether you win or lose, you have to get up, and you have to be hungry for criticism and be willing to absorb it. Our guys have done a pretty good job of that this year."

Going into the Alaska Anchorage game, Western stood tied for first place in the GNAC with Western Washington University, while Alaska Anchorage followed close behind in second.

On Thursday, the Wolves constantly trailed behind and never took the lead until junior James Gehring scored the first shot of the game.

Alaska Anchorage's sophomore Travis Thompson led the Seawolves in scoring as he finished the game with a total of 22 points, where 17 of his points came in the first half. Also in the first half, Thompson scored four back-to-back three-pointers. At halftime, the scoreboard read 22-37.

Bergeson said that the lack of communication played an essential role in the Alaska Anchorage game and caused disappointment. He believes that the communication was the "x-variable," the factor that connects the dots for the team, and that they "did a poor job of communicating defensively."

Seniors Kyle Long, Blair Wheadon and Jordan Freelander contributed the most points during the game as Long scored 12 points, Wheadon, 11 points and Freelander, 10 points.

However the Wolves switched gears and came back on Saturday night to defeat Alaska Fairbanks who stood tied in ninth place before the weekend.

For most of the game, Western remained in the lead. With 16:10 remaining in the first half, the Wolves began to take the lead for the remainder of the game. The two teams finished the first half with the score of 38-32 on the board.

Alaska Fairbanks attempted to catch Western in the second half. As the clock read 10:45, the score stood at 55-52, but Western shrugged it off to beat them with a 13-point difference.

Five Western athletes scored in the double digits to contribute to Saturday night's win. Senior Blair Wheadon scored 20 points, senior Kyle Long 17 points, junior James Gehring 16 points, and senior Jordan Freelander and junior Kolton Nelson each added 11 points.

"When we take good shots, and we share the basketball, we are a good team. We got a little impatient second half of the Anchorage game and could never get anything going offensively as a result. We did a nice job of spreading it out tonight and sharing the ball," said Bergeson at the end of the Alaska Fairbanks game.

At the end of the weekend, Western is tied for second place in the GNAC with Alaska Anchorage according to the GNAC website.

Evaluating the two games, Bergeson also said, "I really liked our effort in both games. I think we took a little bit better care of the ball tonight which is a big deal for us. We have our trademarks, offensively and defensively. We try to stick to each game, and we just want to be who we are every time in."

Western will travel to Montana State University on Thursday, Jan. 26 and Seattle Pacific University on Saturday, Jan. 28.