CHICO — (Nov. 25) Waking up from its early slumber, Humboldt State scored 53 second half points to avoid an upset with an 89-82 win over Western Oregon on Saturday at the Mac Martin Memorial Tournament.

Trailing by as many as 17 points in the first half, the Jacks found their footing in time to improve to 3-0 on the season. Western Oregon dropped to 0-2 in its attempt to bounce back from a blowout loss to host Chico State on Friday.

On Saturday, the Wolves' defensive efforts confused the Lumberjacks, keeping them off balance for much of the first half. Western Oregon scored the first 13 points of the game, forcing HSU head coach Tom Wood to call a timeout and replace all of his starters with bench players.

"I always worry how we will respond when a team throws an unconventional defense at us this early in the season," Wood said. "They were switching between zone and man in the middle of a possession, and we were really out of sync."

During the stretch, the Jacks missed their first nine shots from the field before Grayson Moyer drove the baseline for a layup and converted a free throw to make the score 13-3. Offensive conversions remained rare, however, and the Jacks found themselves down, 26-9 midway through the opening half.

At the same time, Western Oregon could do no wrong. Jacob Mitchell pounded the ball in from the interior and Ryan Schmidt drained his first three three-point attempts to keep the Jacks in the distance.

Gradually at first, then building momentum, the Lumberjacks started hitting their shots as the half progressed. They pulled within three on a layin by Jeremiah Ward before Kevin Johnson drained a three-pointer from the corner, tying the score at 35-35.

The surge didn't keep the Wolves at bay for long, and they went back to the Mitchel. The 6-7 post hit eight of nine shots in the opening period, lifting his team to a 45-38 lead at the break.

Continuing its early trend as a second-half team, Humboldt State came out more determined after halftime. The Jacks clawed their way back in the first five minutes, finally taking their first lead on Ward's jumper with 14 minutes, 34 seconds remaining.

The game remained tight for most of period, but Ward provided HSU with a margin of comfort, leading 78-70 with 2:39 remaining. During a three-minute stretch Ward scored 10 straight points for the Jacks, starting with a short leaner and finishing with a pair of free throws.

Ward topped the Jacks with 22 points, and Johnson added 20 points and nine rebounds. Will Sheufelt scored 14 points, Devin Peal contributed 11 and Cy Vandermeer added a double-double of 11 points and 10 rebounds.

Western Oregon's Mitchell finished with 28 points to top all scorers, and Schmidt added 23 points and 10 rebounds, hitting five of his six three-point attempts. Travis Kuhns scored 13 points and Brad Krichevsky scored 12 for the Wolves.

Humboldt State begins California Collegiate Athletic Association play this week, traveling to take on Cal State San Bernardino on Friday in the league-opener.

Humboldt State vs Western Oregon University
11/25/06 5:30 at Acker Gym - Chico, Calif.
HUMBOLDT STATE 89, WESTERN OREGON UNIVERSITY 82
HUMBOLDT STATE (3-0)
WARD, Jeremiah 8-17 6-6 22; JOHNSON, Kevin 6-10 6-7 20; SHEUFELT, Will 3-6 6-8 14; VANDERMEER, Cy 3-4 5-5 11; PEAL, Devin 2-7 7-10 11; WAY, Evan 2-4 2-2 6; MOYER, Grayson 2-8 1-2 5; CORRAL, Carlos 0-1 0-0 0; KEHRIG, Michael 0-0 0-0 0; BURNS, Tyler 0-0 0-2 0; DEL RIO, Efren 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-57 33-42 89.
WESTERN OREGON UNIVERSITY (0-2)
MITCHELL, Jacob 13-19 2-2 28; SCHMIDT, Ryan 9-18 0-2 23; KUHNS, Travis 5-13 2-2 13; KRICHEVSKY, Brad 4-11 0-0 12; ARRINGTON, Adonal 2-3 0-0 4; SWERZBIN, Alex 0-4 2-2 2; BLOK, Tyler 0-0 0-0 0; HALL, Larry 0-2 0-0 0; DeWEESE, Dominique 0-0 0-0 0; TESORO, Cody 0-0 0-0 0; MALONE, Rob 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 33-70 6-8 82.
Humboldt State................   38   51  -   89
Western Oregon University.....   45   37  -   82
3-point goals-Humboldt State 4-15 (JOHNSON, Kevin 2-3; SHEUFELT, Will 2-2; WAY, Evan 0-1; MOYER, Grayson 0-3; CORRAL, Carlos 0-1; WARD, Jeremiah 0-5), Western Oregon University 10-25 (SCHMIDT, Ryan 5-6; KRICHEVSKY, Brad 4-8; KUHNS, Travis 1-7; HALL, Larry 0-1; SWERZBIN, Alex 0-3). Fouled out--Humboldt State-None, Western Oregon University-SWERZBIN, Alex; KUHNS, Travis; DeWEESE, Dominique. Rebounds-Humboldt State 36 (VANDERMEER, Cy 10), Western Oregon University 36 (SCHMIDT, Ryan 10). Assists-Humboldt State 17 (MOYER, Grayson 6), Western Oregon University 22 (SWERZBIN, Alex 10). Total fouls-Humboldt State 14, Western Oregon University 28. A-316
Game three Enloe Medical Center Mac Martin Tournament.

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