Western Oregon Journal

Issue date: 1/10/07 Section: Full Contact

The Western men's basketball team had an active winter vacation, playing 10 games and emerging with a 4-6 record in that span. The Wolves lost to in-state foes Oregon State and Southern Oregon on Dec. 11 and 13, respectively, and then headed down to California to take part in a tournament hosted by Humboldt State on Dec. 15-16. In the first game, Western squared off against Cal State Monterey Bay in what became a titanic match-up. The contest went into quadruple (yes, four) overtimes. Unfortunately, the Wolves came out on the losing end, 126-122. Senior Ryan Schmidt poured in 39 points and senior Jacob Mitchell scored 33 points in the loss. Amazingly, the squad had enough spirit and legs to rally the next night and win 80-71 against Notre Dame de Namur to even up their tournament record. Schmidt led the Western charge again with 24 points. The squad followed that victory by winning three of the next four games: 94-57 against Willamette on Dec. 19, and two wins in the WOU/Red Lion Hotels Basketball Classic: 74-72 against North Dakota on Dec. 29 and 84-81 against Shepherd the next night. The loss was a 102-40 drubbing at Brigham Young University, Western head coach Craig Stanger's alma mater. The last two games of the break were the squad's first in Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) play. The Wolves lost both road contests by just a combined four points: 97-94 at Western Washington on Jan. 4, and 74-73 at St. Martin's on Jan. 6, in a defeat where the team led almost the entire game. Mitchell led the team in scoring both nights, with 25 points against WWU and 22 against St. Martin's. "December was definitely a growing month for us," said Stanger, "with a lot of adversity. We have been coming together as a team, especially on offense, and have been scoring a lot of points. We are still striving to become more consistent on defense." Stanger also commented on a few players who have stood out lately. "Jacob Mitchell and Ryan Schmidt have been playing well on offense," he said. "Both Dominique DeWeese and Larry Hall have been consistently defending well and taking good care of the ball on offense. Adonal Arrington has been improving a lot and is completing nearly 70 percent of his shots." Next up for the Wolves are two more road contests: at Seattle Pacific on Thursday, Jan. 11, and at Central Washington on Jan. 13. The next home game is Jan. 18 against Alaska Fairbanks at 7 p.m.

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