Box Score
ELLENSBURG (Jan. 26) -- Senior
Roby Clyde (Connell/Pasco HS) scored a season-high 13 points -- all in the second half -- as the Central Washington University men's basketball team held off the visiting University of Alaska Fairbanks, 74-69, on Thursday night at Nicholson Pavilion.
The Wildcats won the opening game of the second half of Great Northwest Athletic Conference play, improving to 10-8 overall and 4-6 in GNAC action and earning a split of the season series with the Nanooks. CWU also pulled into a tie for sixth place in the conference standings with its win. Alaska suffered its seventh straight loss to fall to 4-16 overall and 1-9 in the conference.
In the absence of sophomore center
Kevin Davis (Federal Way/Todd Beamer HS) -- who didn't play in the second half due to injury -- Clyde and fellow senior
Jody Johnson (Seattle/Franklin HS) stepped up to combined for 22 second-half points from their forward positions on 8 of 13 shooting. The Wildcats had a 33-30 lead going into the second half and led by as many as seven points in the final period that witnessed four ties and six lead changes. Alaska tied the game for the final time at 60-60 on a three-pointer by Nico Matthews at the 5:12 mark, but the Wildcats answered 18 seconds later on a jump shot by Clyde. Central never relinquished that lead as Clyde scored eight of the final 14 points to give the Wildcats the final five-point win.
CWU sophomore
Lacy Haddock (Las Vegas, Nev./Sierra Vista HS) played all 40 minutes and scored a team-high 18 points on 7 of 16 shooting. Johnson finished with 17 points and eight rebounds, and Clyde added seven rebounds as he finished one point shy of his career-high total of 14. Also scoring in double digits was senior
Toussaint Tyler (Kent/Kentwood HS), who added 15 points.
Alaska outshot the Wildcats 46.6 percent (27 of 58) to 43.8 percent (28 -64), but Central shot 73.7 percent (14 of 19) from the free throw line, where they outscored the Nanooks by five.
The Nanooks also had four players score in double-figures led by Sergej Pucar with 20 points on 9 of 11 shooting, and Dominique Brinson with 14 points and three steals.
Central Washington will continue its two-game home stand as they host Alaska Anchorage this Saturday (Jan. 28) at 7 p.m.
