BELLINGHAM, Wash. – Junior Julian Nichols scored the final seven points, including a 5-for-6 showing at the free throw line over the final minute, for Western Oregon University's men's basketball team, as the Wolves came-from-behind to defeat Western Washington University, 90-87, in Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) play Saturday inside Carver Gymnasium.

With tonight's victory over the Vikings, Western Oregon (16-3, 8-1 GNAC) closed out the first half of the conference schedule on a six-game winning streak en route to posting the best win-loss record in GNAC play for the Wolves since WOU joined the league in 2001. Western Oregon is also off the its best start since the 1996-97 season when the Wolves were 14-5 over the opening 19 games of the year.

"We had to dig down deep to get this one done," said Head Coach Brady Bergeson. "(Western Washington) outplayed us for 17 minutes in the second half. We outplayed them for the final three. I'm very proud of the toughness we displayed on the road."

Junior Andy Avgi also etched his name into the Western Oregon record book, as he became the newest member of the 1,000-point club with his first point of the night via a free throw in the first half en route to scoring a team-high 21 points on 8-of-15 shooting from the field. Along with Avgi, Nichols added 18 points that included 15 in the second half to go along with a game-high eight assists, three steals, and a pair of rebounds. Three other Wolves – Jordan Wiley, Adam Hastings, and Lewis Thomas – also scored in double figures with 15, 13, and 12 points, respectively, while Avgi pulled down a team-high five rebounds in the victory.

Western Washington (10-9, 3-6 GNAC) would get a game-high 31 points from Ricardo Maxwell on 10-of-17 shooting from the field that included a 3-for-6 performance from beyond the three-point line. Meanwhile, three other Vikings – Jaamon Echols, Jeffrey Parker, and Mac Johnson – were also in double figures with 14, 13, and 12 points, respectively, to go along with nine rebounds by Johnson and a team-best five assists by Maxwell.

Both would come out a battle over the opening eight minutes, as the two teams fought to a 17-17 tie with 12:04 on the clock before Western Oregon used an 18-6 run over a five-minute span to pull ahead by 12 points (35-23) on a three-pointer by senior Marwan Sarhan with exactly seven minutes remaining in the first half. The visiting Wolves would push their lead to as much as 16 points (48-32) following a three-pointer by Thomas four minutes later. Western Oregon would settle for a 53-40 lead at halftime, as the Wolves combined to shoot 20-of-31 (64.5%) from the field in the first half that included a 5-for-9 (55.6%) clip from beyond the arc.

The second half would begin with Western Washington using a 21-8 run over the opening seven minutes to tie the game at 61-61 on a pair of free throws by Maxwell with 13:23 left in the game. Western Oregon would never relinquish its lead until the 10:53 mark when WWU's Parker hit a three-pointer to pull the Vikings in front by one point (66-65) with just under 11 minutes remaining. Two minutes later, Western Oregon pulled ahead by four points (72-68) via a 7-2 run that was capped by a lay-in from Hastings with just under nine minutes on the clock. Within the next two minutes, Western Washington tied the game for the 10th time at 74-74 on a lay-in by Maxwell with 5:49 left before the Vikings used an 8-4 run over the next two minutes to pull ahead by four points (82-78) with just under three minutes left. Over the next 60 seconds, Western Oregon would get back-to-back free throws from Avgi before Wiley hit a three-pointer from the wing to erase WWU's lead and put the Wolves back ahead 83-82 with 1:49 on the clock. Twenty-six seconds later, Maxwell would knock down a pair of free throws giving Western Washington its final lead of the night (84-83) with 1:24 left. Western Oregon would come down a got a driving lay-in from Nichols to go back in front (85-84) before the Wolves' defense stepped up the pressure and held WWU without a made field goal over the next minute as WOU got four straight made free throws from Nichols en route to securing a 89-84 lead with 10 seconds left. Western Washington would pull within two points (89-87) after a three-pointer by Joey Schrieber before fouling Nichols and sending the GNAC's leading free throw shooting to the charity stripe. After Nichols made his first free throw with 1.4 seconds left, he would miss the next one only to have Avgi gather the rebound to seal the come-from-behind victory (90-87) for the Wolves.

As a team, Western Oregon combined to shoot 31-for-55 (56.4%) from the field that included a 7-of-15 (46.7%) showing from beyond the three-point line and a 21-for-23 (91.3%) performance at the free throw line. On the other hand, Western Washington was a combined 30-for-57 (52.6%) from the field, 9-of-16 (56.3%) from long distance, and 18-of-21 (85.7%) at the charity stripe.

Western Oregon returns to the hardwood to begin the second half of GNAC play on Thursday, January 29, against Montana State Billings beginning at 7 p.m. inside the New PE Building in Monmouth.