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ELLENSBURG (Dec. 1) -- Senior JEFF BUDINICH (Maple Valley/Kentlake HS) scored a season-high 18 points, leading six Central Washington University men's basketball players in double figures in an 82-60 victory over visiting Walla Walla University on Sunday afternoon at Nicholson Pavilion.

The Wildcats improved to 3-2 on the season with the 22-point victory. Walla Walla counted the game as an exhibition.

Budinich, a transfer from Montana State University, made 7 of 10 field goals while adding six rebounds and two blocked shots in 18 minutes off the bench.

All five CWU starters finished with exactly 10 points in Sunday's win. That lineup included freshman JALEN PEAKE (Yakima/West Valley HS), who made his first career start and added five rebounds, three assists, and two steals. Fellow backcourt players JOEY ROPPO (So., Monroe) and JOSHUA LORD (Jr., Tacoma/Mount Tahoma HS) each made 4 of 5 field goals, with Roppo draining a team-best two three-pointers, while the frontcourt tandem of seniors JB PILLARD III (Kirkland/Juanita HS) and KEVIN DAVIS (Federal Way/Todd Beamer HS) also scored 10.

"We were able to give a lot of guys a lot of equal time out on the court today," CWU head coach Greg Sparling said. "Jeff had a nice individual game for us, and we were able to get all five of our starters to double figures without playing anybody too many minutes."

The Wildcats scored the game's first 15 points and had a 20-2 lead less than five minutes into the game. The lead hovered around 20 points for most of the first half, although after posting their largest lead of the period at 33-10 with 7:09 to go, the visiting Wolves scored 14 of the final 18 points to make it a 37-24 score at halftime.

CWU went to work in the paint to open the second half, scoring 16 of their first 25 points of the period inside. They finished the game with a commanding 44-12 edge in paint scoring, while also capitalizing on 21 Walla Walla turnovers for 23 points. The Wildcats ended the game at 49.3 percent from the floor, including 58.7 percent (27 of 46) from inside three-point range.

Junior JULIAN VAUGHN (Tacoma/Curtis HS) led a balanced rebounding effort with eight boards off the bench, including seven on the defensive end, as CWU finished with a narrow 36-34 advantage on the glass. Pillard and Budinich added six apiece, with Davis and Peake pulling down five rebounds each.

"I still think we need to pick up our rebounding," Sparling said. "Today, we got away from what we did (against BYU-Hawaii last Saturday), which was getting paint touches, and we 'settled'. We won't be able to settle once we begin conference play (this next week)."

The Wildcats played without senior guard MARK MCLAUGHLIN (Bothell/Inglemoor HS), a 28 points-per-game scorer this season, who sat out due to a violation of team rules.

Walla Walla saw two of its players -- Tristan Greenidge and Luke Spady -- combine for two-thirds of its points. Greenidge tied a season-high with 21 points including 6 of 7 from three-point range, while Spady set a new season-high with 19. The Wolves finished the game at 35.8 percent from the floor on 19 of 53 shooting.

CWU opens Great Northwest Athletic Conference play on the road this coming week, visiting Montana State University Billings on Thursday (Dec. 5) and nationally-ranked Seattle Pacific University on Saturday (Dec. 7). The Wildcats' next home game is Dec. 16 versus Quest University Canada.