Box Score

SEATTLE (Dec. 30) -- Four players scored in double figures, including career-highs from three Wildcats, as the Central Washington men's basketball team cruised to a 96-61 victory over Academy of Art University in day two action at the Falcons Invitational at Brougham Pavilion.

The Wildcats wrapped up the 2009 calendar-year portion of their schedule, as well as their non-conference ledger, with a 6-4 record. Academy of Art, a second-year program based in San Francisco, Calif., fell to 0-10 on the season.

Sophomore Shane Miller (Moscow, Idaho) came off the bench to score a career-high 19 points in just 15 minutes of action, while fellow Wildcats Humberto Perez (Yakima/A.C. Davis HS) and Ryan Snowden (Auburn) also posted career-highs in Wednesday's victory with 18 and 11 points, respectively. Junior Chris Sprinker (Tacoma/Curtis HS) joined that trio in double figures, posting a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds while adding a career-high six blocked shots.

Central led from start-to-finish in Wednesday's contest, although the team's fourth-highest scoring output of the season got off to a slow start as neither team scored for the first 2:17 of the game. The Wildcats broke the ice on a jumper by senior Jon Clift (Spokane/Joel E. Ferris HS) and proceeded to score the game's first seven points. After Academy of Art closed to within one at 11-10, Central scored 15 straight points over a two-minute span to take a 16-point lead. The Wildcats then scored the final nine points of the first half to take a commanding 49-25 advantage into the intermission.

The Wildcats scored the first seven points of the second half to make it a collective 16-0 scoring run, and they spent most of the final stanza with a lead of 30 or more. The lead reached 39 points on three separate occasions before Central settled for its largest margin of victory of the season with the 35-point win.

While the offense was prevalent with a 48.6 percent accuracy on field-goal shooting, Central was especially dominant in rebounding and on the defensive end. The Wildcats nearly doubled the Urban Knights on the boards with a 56-31 edge, and they held AAU to 61 points -- the fewest by a CWU opponent this season.

Miller, whose previous career-high was nine in a home win over Walla Walla on Dec. 9, scored 15 of his points in the second half. For the game, he made 7 of 10 field-goal attempts including a pair of three-pointers. Perez was the Wildcats' top marksman from three-point range, making 4 of 6 treys as part of a 6 of 9 overall shooting performance, while Snowden logged 17 minutes and scored five of his 11 tallies from the free throw line.

Academy of Art had just one player in double figures, as reserve Aaron Aikman scored 10 points off the bench.

Central Washington will return to action on Jan. 7, opening Great Northwest Athletic Conference play with a 7:30 p.m. contest against Western Oregon at Nicholson Pavilion. That game will follow the CWU women's GNAC opener that is scheduled for a 5:15 p.m. start.