Box Score

MONMOUTH, Ore. (Dec. 1) -- Three Central Washington University men's basketball players established career-highs for scoring, but the Wildcats fell victim to a late three-point shooting barrage in a 118-113 triple-overtime loss to host Western Oregon University on Saturday afternoon.

The Wildcats saw their five-game winning streak snapped, falling to 5-2 overall and 1-1 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. Western Oregon improved to 6-2 overall and 2-0 in the GNAC.

Junior Mark McLaughlin (Bothell/Inglemoor HS), senior Brandon Magee (Spanaway/Bethel HS), and junior Dom Williams (University Place/Curtis HS) all tied or set new career scoring highs in the contest. McLaughlin scored 33 points on 12 of 25 shooting and 8 of 9 at the free throw line. Magee, whose previous career-high of 23 were scored in Thursday night's win at Saint Martin's University, finished with 25 points after making 7 of 11 field goals and 11 of 13 free throws. Williams tied his career-high with 21 points while playing a game-high 50 minutes.

A season-high 25 turnovers proved to be costly as WOU scored 27 points off those miscues. CWU forced the Wolves into 19 turnovers -- off of which the Wildcats scored 19 points -- but the visitors were credited with just eight assists on 39 made baskets. WOU, which finished the game making 12 of 27 from three-point range (44.4 percent), was awarded with 21 assists on 44 made field goals.

CWU jumped in front with a sizeable margin early in the first half, going ahead 31-16 with 7:17 to go in the opening period. WOU then scored 19 of the next 26 points to cut the Wildcats' lead to three, but CWU scored the final four points of the first half to take a 42-35 advantage into the break.

CWU led the entire second half with the exception of a tie score for 12 seconds. The last of those ties was with one second left. After Williams made two free throws to give the Wildcats an 89-86 lead, Western Oregon's Jordan Wiley forced overtime with a game-tying three-pointer -- the third Wolves trey in as many possessions over the final 14 seconds.

The Wildcats drew first blood in the first overtime with a pair of free throws by senior Jordan Coby (Tacoma/Woodrow Wilson HS), but another three-pointer by the Wolves allowed the hosts to regain the lead. WOU led by as many as four with 1:18 to go in the five-minute extra period, but four CWU free throws -- two each by Magee and McLaughlin -- enabled the Wildcats to extend the game with a second overtime.

Neither team led by more than three in the second overtime -- a lead that CWU obtained at the 2:47 mark on a pair of Williams free throws. The Wolves tied it on their next possession on a conventional three-point play by Devon Alexander, and after WOU took the lead on an Alexander jumper with 1:33 to go, the Wildcats' Nate Walker (Tacoma/Henry Foss HS) tied the game with a put-back lay-up in the final 30 seconds.

The lead see-sawed back and forth in the third overtime period, but after CWU took a two-point lead at 112-110 with 2:08 remaining, Western Oregon outscored the Wildcats 8-1 with a game-tying lay-up by Alexander and six made free throws combined between Alexander and Andy Avgi.

Avgi, Alexander, and Wiley -- all freshmen -- were the only three double-figure scorers for Western Oregon, combining for 84 of the Wolves' points. Avgi had a double-double of 36 points and 12 rebounds, while Alexander scored 28 and Wiley 20. That trio also combined to make 30 of 53 shot attempts in the game, while the rest of their teammates were a combined 14 of 38 (36.8 percent).

In addition to the point totals by McLaughlin, Magee, and Williams, Coby finished with 17 points and seven rebounds in 37 minutes of reserve action. He made 7 of 11 shot attempts in the contest. Walker had 19 rebounds -- the highest total by a CWU player in its 14 seasons as a NCAA Division II member -- as the Wildcats finished with a 57-41 edge on the glass. CWU also converted on 30 of its 36 free throw attempts.

The three-overtime game tied for the longest in school history, and was the fifth such game since CWU began playing basketball in 1902. The Wildcats had been 3-1 in triple overtime games, with the last one being played on Dec. 16, 1998, when CWU defeated Lewis-Clark State 102-98 in Lewiston, Idaho.

The Wolves' point total of 118 was the highest total allowed by a CWU team in school history -- one more than BYU-Hawaii scored in a Jan. 14, 1994 game in Laie, Hawaii.

Central Washington will step out of GNAC play for its next three games between now and the end of December. The Wildcats return to Nicholson Pavilion for a Dec. 11 game against The Evergreen State College (7 p.m.) before playing a pair of games at the South Point Holiday Hoops Classic in Las Vegas on Dec. 18 and 19.