JON CLIFT TO JOIN WILDCAT BASKETBALL PROGRAM IN 2008-09
Former Spokane CC Point Guard is Latest CWU Basketball Recruit

ELLENSBURG -- (May 8) Jon Clift, a point guard from the Community Colleges of Spokane, has declared his intention to continue his collegiate basketball career at Central Washington University. Head coach Greg Sparling made the announcement on Thursday.

Clift spent the past two seasons as the point guard at Spokane, playing for former CWU assistant coach Mike Burns in 2007-08. He earned second team all-East Region honors in the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges (NWAACC), helping the Sasquatch to a 30-2 overall record and a second-place finish at the NWAACC Tournament.

"Jon is very smart and hard-working point guard," Sparling said, "who has proven himself at the junior college level. He will add depth to the point guard position and he has been a very successful player throughout his career -- both at the high school and junior college levels. And overall, Jon is a quality student-athlete."

Clift, whose older brother Marcus starred for two seasons at Great Northwest Athletic Conference rival Northwest Nazarene, averaged 3.8 assists and 1.8 steals per game as a sophomore this past winter for the Sasquatch. As a freshman in 2006-07, he started all 29 games at point guard, averaging 11.1 points and 3.0 rebounds per game while totaling 98 assists and 63 steals.

Over the course of his two seasons at CCS, the Sasquatch posted a combined 43-18 record. A two-year letterman at Joel E. Ferris High School in Spokane, Clift was a member of Saxon teams that went a combined 45-11 with two Class 4A state tournament appearances in two seasons under head coach Don Van Lierop. His prep accolades included first team all-Greater Spokane League honors, honorable mention all-state, and second team all-WIAA Class 4A state tournament. Clift averaged 17 points, four assists, and 2.5 steals per game during his senior season at Ferris, with his top performance including 27 points and 10 assists against Spokane's East Valley High School.

Also an academic standout, Clift was named to the NWAACC Men's Basketball Academic Team with a 3.63 grade-point average. He plans to major in accounting at CWU.

Clift joins two other junior college players, Chris Sprinker and Shane Miller, in joining the Wildcats for the 2008-09 season. The trio joins a Central Washington squad that turned in its best season in eight years this past winter. The Wildcats finished with a 21-7 overall record, including a 15-3 mark and second place finish in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. CWU also qualified for the NCAA Division II tournament for the second time in the past three seasons, earning the number four seed.