Box Score

LACEY (Jan. 30) -- Juniors Chris Sprinker (Tacoma/Curtis HS) and JC Cook (Canby, Ore.) scored 15 points apiece, and the Central Washington University men's basketball team held Saint Martin's to 68 points in posting an 83-68 road victory over the Saints on Saturday night at Marcus Pavilion.

With the win, the Wildcats, ranked ninth in this week's NCAA Division II West Region poll, kept pace with the Great Northwest Athletic Conference leaders by improving to 5-2 in GNAC play and 11-6 overall. Saint Martin's fell to 11-7 overall and 1-6 in the GNAC.

Central trailed for most of the first nine minutes before Cook gave the Wildcats the lead at the 11:02 mark as part of a 13-1 run. That was also the start of an overall 28-13 streak after which Central took its first double-digit advantage of the game at 11 points. However, Saint Martin's stormed back late in the opening half, reeling off 12 straight tallies for a one-point lead with 2:03 to go in the period, but the Wildcats scored the final four points of the period -- as part of an overall 10-0 run -- and led 42-39 at halftime.

After starting the second half with an extension of that run with the first six points of the stanza, Central did not trail again. The Wildcats pushed the lead to 16 points less than five minutes into the half and led by at least six points the rest of the way. CWU finished the game on a 10-1 scoring run that was capped off by Sprinker's slam dunk with 25 seconds remaining.

Statistically, Central dominated the game in nearly every category. The top rebounding team in the GNAC outrebounded its hosts by a commanding 49-29 margin led by a team-high 13 boards from sophomore Roby Clyde (Connell/Pasco HS). The Wildcats also shot better than 50 percent from the floor (51.7 percent on 30 of 58) and made 18 of 23 free throws on the night (78.3 percent).

Sprinker nearly finished with his fourth double-double of the season, grabbing nine rebounds to go with his 15 points, while the offense was aided by 12 points from junior Humberto Perez (Yakima/A.C. Davis HS). Central had eight players finish with seven or more points apiece, including four players who totaled exactly eight points each.

Saint Martin's was led by the conference's leading rebounder, Blake Poole, who had 19 points and nearly half (14) of the Saints' 29 rebounds. Three other starters scored in double figures for the hosts, whose only statistical advantage on Saturday night was in turnovers, where they committed just 10 to Central's 19.

Central Washington, which sits two games behind Seattle Pacific in the GNAC standings and one-half game behind Western Washington for second place in the league, will get its first crack at the league leaders at Nicholson Pavilion on Thursday night (Feb. 4) at 7:30 p.m. The Wildcats will then hit the road for three consecutive games before their next home contest.