Box Score
BILLINGS, Mont. (Jan. 28) -- Junior
Chris Sprinker (Tacoma/Curtis HS) scored a season-high 20 points, and the Central Washington University men's basketball team outscored Montana State University Billings by a 39-27 count in the second half of its 73-57 victory in a match-up of two regionally-ranked teams on Thursday night at Alterowitz Gymnasium.
The win snapped a two-game losing streak for the Wildcats, who were ranked ninth in the NCAA Division II West Region poll this week. Central is now 10-6 overall and 4-2 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play. Montana State Billings, ranked seventh in the region this week, suffered its first home loss of the year and fell to 9-6 overall and 3-3 in the GNAC.
Sprinker made 9 of 11 field goals and added a game-high nine rebounds in leading the Wildcats to their seventh win in nine all-time meetings between the two schools. Guards
Jon Clift (Spokane/Joel E. Ferris HS),
Humberto Perez (Yakima/A.C. Davis HS), and
JC Cook (Canby, Ore.) also scored in double figures with 13, 11, and 11 points, respectively.
Central held Montana State Billings to its lowest-scoring effort of the year, and kept the Yellowjackets to just 29.4 percent shooting with just 15 made field goals, in the victory. It also marked the best defensive effort by a CWU squad against a Division II opponent since holding Shaw (N.C.) to 55 points in a Dec. 13, 2008 win at Nicholson Pavilion.
The Wildcats led for all but 2 minutes, 21 seconds in Thursday's contest, but didn't take control of the contest until the second half. They led 34-30 at halftime, taking their largest first-half lead of seven points with a minute left in the period before MSU Billings drained a three-pointer in the closing seconds of the half for the four-point margin.
The Wildcats scored the first seven points of the second half and began to break away from the Yellowjackets with a 23-12 run in the first eight minutes of the period, taking a 57-42 lead. The margin remained in double digits the rest of the game, peaking at a 17-point margin (70-53) on a Clift three-pointer with 2:49 left before the final 16-point differential.
Central shot 50 percent from the floor, its best shooting percentage in the last nine games and significantly better than its efficiency in its last two losses at Nicholson Pavilion. The Wildcats also flexed their muscles as the conference's top rebounding team with a 42-33 edge on the glass, and Central also shot 75 percent from the free throw line (12 of 16) despite being outscored by nine at the charity stripe.
Montana State Billings was led by the 15 points of reserve DeAndre Chambers. DaVell Jackson, who shared top rebounding honors for the game with Central's Sprinker with nine caroms, was the only other Yellowjacket player to score in double digits with 11.
Central Washington will visit Saint Martin's University in Lacey on Saturday night (Jan. 30) at 7 p.m. The Wildcats' next home game is against conference leader and the West Region's top-ranked team, Seattle Pacific, next Thursday night (Feb. 4) at 7:30 p.m. at Nicholson Pavilion.
