Box Score

MONMOUTH, Ore. (Nov. 30) -- Central Washington University senior Humberto Perez (Yakima/A.C. Davis HS) made five of nine three-pointers and helped the 24th-ranked men's basketball team overcome an eight-point halftime deficit to defeat Western Oregon University, 87-78, on Tuesday night.

The Wildcats improved to 5-0 for the first time since the 1992-93 season, and are 1-0 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play. The Wolves fall to 3-4 on the season, 0-1 in the GNAC.

Perez finished with a game- and season-high 21 points on 6 of 11 shooting overall. He had some offensive help, as senior guard Drew Harris (Yakima/Eisenhower HS) added 18 points and handed out eight assists.

The Wildcats used two big runs to help lead to the nine-point win. They jumped out to an early 18-7 lead in the first 3:45 of the game, capped by one of Perez's five treys, and after trailing by eight at halftime, Central opened the second half on a 26-9 run sparked by hot shooting from Perez and Harris.

In the first half, the Wolves were 9 of 12 from three-point territory and shot 60.0 percent (18-30) overall from the field. The Wildcats made seven threes of their own in the first stanza and shot a respectable 48.4 percent (15-31) from the floor.

“They (Western Oregon) scorched the nets in the first half,” said CWU head coach Greg Sparling. “We had hands in their face but they just kept making shots.”

Western Oregon cooled off in the second half, shooting just 31.3 percent and missing all seven of their three-point attempts in the period. Meanwhile, Central stayed consistent offensively, nearly matching their first-half output by shooting 48.1 percent from the field and making six three-pointers.

The majority of the second-half offense came from the trio of Perez, Harris and junior Jody Johnson (Seattle/Franklin HS), who all scored 10 points in the period and were responsible for over 68 percent of the offense in the final half.

Johnson finished the game with a career-high 15 points on four of seven shooting and added seven rebounds off the bench.

“Jody really stepped up for us off the bench,” Sparling added. “He got us some big rebounds and made clutch shots.”

Also scoring in double figures were senior Chris Sprinker (Tacoma/Curtis HS) with 14 points and a team-high nine rebounds, and senior Jamar Berry (Tacoma/Franklin Pierce HS) who had 11 points.

Western Oregon had eight different players make a three-point basket and was led by Jordan Freelander who scored 18 points, and Tarance Glynn who finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds.

The Wildcats will take their unblemished record to the SPU Invitational this weekend, when they play Grand Canyon on Friday (Dec. 3) and 23rd-ranked Chaminade on Saturday (Dec. 4). Both games are slated for a 5 p.m. tipoff.