Box Score ELLENSBURG (Jan. 11) -- Central Washington University Senior MARK MCLAUGHLIN (Inglemoor HS) scored a game-high 39 points as the men's basketball team defeated Western Oregon University 106-103 in double overtime Saturday night in Nicholson Pavilion.

McLaughlin was 10 of 22 from the field, a perfect 16 of 16 from the free throw line and grabbed 11 rebounds.  Fellow senior KEVIN DAVIS (Todd Beamer HS) had arguably his most impressive game as a Wildcat scoring 25 points while hauling down 11 rebounds and collecting five blocks.  Senior JB Pillard (Junita HS) also recorded a double-double with 15 points and 13 rebounds.

The Wildcats led by as many as seven points in the opening half, but an 11-2 run by the Wolves gave the visitors a 29-27 lead with just under eight minutes left in the half.  Central Washington had hard time keeping the WOU offense from scoring as the Wolves shot 57.6 percent (19 of 33) in the half.  The Wildcats kept pace by shooting 52 percent connecting on 13 of their 25 shots in the opening period.  Despite turning the ball over 11 times in the first-half, which led to 18 WOU points, CWU trailed by just five points at 47-42.

The Wildcats rallied in the second half to take a 59-58 advantage with 14:13 left in the game.  The scoring spurt was started by a monster put back dunk by KEVIN DAVIS followed by seven straight points scored by MARK MCLAUGHLIN.  With less than 30 seconds remaining in the game JB Pillard scored a layup to give the Wildcats a 79-77 lead. 

After a WOU timeout with 14.1 seconds remaining WOU guard Devon Alexander got fouled and made both his free throws with 7.7 remaining to tie the game at 79 points apiece.  CWU took the inbound pass and Pillard scored a basket but was waved off by the officials as his release came after the buzzer sounded, forcing overtime.

In Overtime The Wildcats took a 86-83 lead aided by a 4-0 run by CWU powered by McLaughlin hitting a jumper and sinking two shots from the charity stripe.   With the Wildcats down 91-88, McLaughlin hits a three-pointer with under 10 seconds left to tie the game at 91, eventually forcing double overtime.

Both teams traded leads in the second overtime, but the Wildcats too a 100-99 advantage on a converted "and one" opportunity by Davis with.  Western Oregon got a layup by Alexander, but the Wildcats answered back with a layup in by Pillard with less than 15 seconds left to play to take a 102-101 advantage.  Pillard then got fouled and made both his free throw attempts with 7.9 seconds left in the second overtime to give CWU a 104-101 lead.

After a foul on the WOU inbound Andy Avgi made both free throw attempts to cut the CWU advantage to 104-103.  McLaughlin went to the line with 6.7 left and drained both attempts to give the Wildcats the final 106-103 victory.

Western Oregon had four players score in double figures led by Rodney Webster who had 28 points and five rebounds.

Up next, the men's basketball team travels to Alaska to face off with Alaska Fairbanks on Thursday, Jan. 16 and Alaska Anchorage on Saturday Jan. 18.