BURNABY, B.C. – Western Oregon used a big second half to upend Simon Fraser 76-63 Saturday in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's basketball contest at the West Gym. Down nine points at halftime, the Wolves outscored the hosts 46-24 in the final 20 minutes to earn the road victory.
 
Senior forward Julian Roche recorded 14 points and eight rebounds to lead SFU (10-9, 5-6 GNAC) in both categories. Senior guard Josiah Mastandrea scored 12 points. Guards David Penney, a senior, and Elliot Dimaculangan, a junior, had five assists each.
 
John Morrill-Keeler posted a 20-point, 11-rebound double double for WOU (5-15, 4-8 GNAC). Cameron Cranston contributed 19 points. In total, four Wolves reached double digits in scoring.
 
"We wanted to get off to a better start, and we did that," said SFU head coach Steve Hanson. "I thought we played a decent first half. We weren't sharp defensively but we got stops and got out running, so that was great. We got up 13 and I think we started settling. WOU's 1-2-2 defence kind of slowed us down and got us out of offensive rhythm. Our bad offence translated to their good offence.
 
"We have to find a way to execute. We're not doing that well. There are no excuses, we have to be tougher. Both teams were a little tired today but we have to be tougher down the stretch and execute."
 
WOU took a five-point lead, 18-13, midway through the opening period before SFU hit three long-distance shots for a 9-0 run and a 22-18 advantage. The first three-point shot came from Roche, then Mastandrea made the next two. Baskets by Penney and freshman guard Dylan McFee gave SFU six-point leads at 31-25 and 33-27. The team then finished the half with six-consecutive points to hold a 39-30 lead.
 

SFU built on its advantage coming out of the break. Balata opened the scoring. Then Mastandrea made a three-point shot in the corner in front of his own bench and was fouled. He hit the ensuing free throw with 18:19 on the clock to put SFU ahead 45-32. It was the squad's largest lead of the game. SFU was also ahead 47-34 and 51-38.
 
A three-point shot by Qiant Myers with 10:36 left in the game brought his WOU team to within six points at 53-47. SFU went up 58-56 with a Roche foul shot with 4:28 to go. The Wolves reeled off nine-straight points in a span of just 2:13 to take the lead for the first time since midway through the opening half.
 
WOU made a three with 1:50 remaining, and then stole the ball on the next SFU possession, forcing the home side to foul. The Wolves converted eight of nine free throws in the final 1:19 to seal the win.

It capped off an outstanding second half for the visitors. WOU made 14 of 22 field goals (63.6 per cent), including 5 of 8 (62.5 per cent) from behind the three-point arc. The team missed just one of its 14 foul shots today, all of which came in the second half (92.9 per cent).
 
For the game, the Wolves shot 52.8 per cent (28 of 53) from the field and 53.8 per cent (7 of 13) on long-distance shots. WOU outscored SFU 22-9 in points off turnovers.
 
The hosts shot 45.6 per cent (26 of 57) from the field, 29.2 per cent on threes (7 of 24) and 44.4 per cent (4 of 9) at the foul line.
 
SFU won't have much rest as it will host Alaska Anchorage Monday at 2 p.m., before playing road matchups at Seattle Pacific Thursday and Montana State Billings Saturday.
 
For the latest information on SFU Athletics visit https://athletics.sfu.ca. You can also find us on social media at @SFU_Athletics.

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