Box Score
ELLENSBURG (Feb. 4) -- Junior
JC Cook (Canby, Ore.) scored a team-high 24 points and added eight rebounds to help lead the Central Washington University men's basketball team to a convincing 85-72 victory over visiting Seattle Pacific University on Thursday night at Nicholson Pavilion.
The Wildcats earned their eighth straight regular-season win over the Falcons, improving to 12-6 overall and 6-2 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. Central also snapped Seattle Pacific's seven-game win streak and dropped the ninth-ranked Falcons to 16-3 overall and 7-1 in the GNAC.
With the exception of one tie score at 2-2, Central led from start to finish on Thursday. Senior
Riley Sivak (Ellensburg) got the Wildcats off to a emphatic start with a slam dunk on the second possession of the game and after the Falcons tied the game, CWU scored seven straight points. The lead was trimmed to one twice at 14-13 and 19-18 before a 7-0 scoring run pushed the margin to eight. The Wildcats then closed the half on a seven-point scoring streak over the final 3:36 of the period, capped by a three-pointer from Cook in the closing minute before halftime.
The Wildcats continued to break away early in the second half, leading by as many as 22 points (61-39) with just over 15 minutes left in the contest. After reaching that superlative margin for a second time at the 13:04 mark, Central appeared to be rolling to the victory. However, a physical play under the south end of the gym on the next play that was ruled a hard foul and a scuffle ensued -- a play that sparked a significant Seattle Pacific run. One player from each team was whistled for a flagrant foul and subsequently ejected, after which time the Falcons scored 16 straight points to make it a six-point deficit.
After Seattle Pacific cut the margin, Central's
Humberto Perez (Yakima/A.C. Davis HS) drained a three-pointer immediately following a Falcon trey, energizing the Wildcat attack and helping CWU post a double-digit lead for most of the final seven minutes.
Cook, making his first start since the Wildcats' Jan. 7 home game against Western Oregon, keyed Central's 50 percent shooting night. He made 9 of 13 shots including 4 of 5 three-pointers. He also pulled down eight rebounds and handed out three assists without a turnover as the Wildcats committed just seven turnovers in the game. The Crimson and Black also held a 41-38 rebounding edge led by the nine rebounds of
Roby Clyde (Connell/Pasco HS).
Seattle Pacific, the top-ranked team in the NCAA Division II West Region this week and the GNAC standings leader entering play on Thursday, was led by the two-man scoring duo of Brandon Larrieu and Chris Banchero, who totaled 28 and 19 points, respectively. No other Falcon player reached double figure scoring while Central had four players with 10 or more points -- Cook, Sivak (14 points), Perez (10 points) and junior
Chris Sprinker (Tacoma/Curtis HS; 10 points).
Central Washington, which has now won three consecutive games and snapped a rare two-game home losing skid, will now hit the road for three straight outings beginning with Saturday afternoon's 4:30 p.m. match up at Western Oregon in Monmouth, Ore. The Wildcats' next home game is Feb. 20 versus Northwest Nazarene.
