The UAA men's basketball team is no longer unbeaten in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play.
No. 8 Western Oregon defeated UAA 76-66 Thursday in Monmouth, Oregon, despite a second-half surge by the Seawolves. The loss ended UAA's nine-game winning streak.
A 12-2 run put the Wolves (15-2, 8-1 GNAC) up by double digits midway through the first half and Western Oregon carried the momentum into halftime leading 33-23.
UAA (15-5, 8-1) struggled throughout the game to find an answer for reigning GNAC Player of the Year, Andy Avgi, who finished with a game-high 31 points.
But the Seawolves finally found some rhythm midway through the second half once the buckets started falling for UAA leading scorer Suki Wiggs.
Wiggs scored 22 of his 26 points in the second half, and, with the scoring help of fellow guards Brian McGill (17 points) and Spencer Sjevcar (16), the Seawolves sliced away at Western Oregon's lead. The three guards combined for 83 percent of the Seawolves' scoring.
A Wiggs trey evened the score 55-55 with just over seven minutes to play.
Seconds later, Svejcar completed an old-fashioned three-point play to give the Seawolves their first lead since the opening minutes at 58-57.
UAA lost steam after taking the lead and found itself down 70-66 following a pair of free throws by Corey Hammell.
Hammell's free throws, his only two points of the game, were the last scores UAA mustered as Western Oregon ended the game on a 6-0 run.
Hammell, guard Diante Mitchell (5 points) and Christian Leckband (0 points) struggled to score in the game. All three players were averaging more than 10 points per game heading into the contest, but they combined for seven points in the loss to Western Oregon.
For the Wolves, Jordan Wiley joined Avgi in double figures with 17 points.
The loss drops UAA into a tie with Western Oregon in the GNAC standings at 8-1 — one game ahead of third-place UAF.
The Seawolves will try to get back in the win column at 6:30 p.m. Saturday against 5-11 Concordia.