Box Score ELLENSBURG, Wash. (Dec. 4) — Behind the career high 31 points of senior guard
Dom Williams, the Central Washington University (4-2, 1-0 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) men's basketball team toppled Montana State University Billings (1-6, 0-1 GNAC) in the GNAC season opener for both teams.
Williams split his points nearly equally, scoring 16 in the first half and adding 15 more in the second period. On the night, he hit on 11 of 20 shots from the floor, including five of seven three pointers, in 35 minutes of play. It was, admittedly, his best game in the crimson and black, so far.
"Right from the start of the game it was on and I was fully locked in," Williams said. "I know what I can do now. It can only get better from here."
CWU head coach
Greg Sparling added, "He's very capable of doing that every night. He's just so smooth that it doesn't look like he's putting so many points on the board. The other thing is he had five assists and no turnovers. When they started double-teaming him, he found the open guy."
It was only the second game of the season for Williams, who scored nine points in his first game last Saturday in the 84-71 win over Walla Walla University.
"I was way more focused than I was in the first game," Williams pointed out. "I couldn't even sleep last night. This league game was on my mind all day. Coming into my senior year, the first league game—the most important game—you've got to come out with a bang, you've got to let everybody know who's the leader from the start."
Williams, who redshirted last season, says he used the past year as an opportunity to work on his game, as a way to make it a memorable senior season.
"This summer, I trained with my best friend, Isaiah Thomas—he plays for the Phoenix Suns," Williams pointed out. "I practiced deep range jumpers."
It was practice that paid dividends on Thursday.
CWU led by a point, 37-36, following a first half that featured 10 ties and 17 lead changes. In the second half, the Wildcats connected on eight of their first 11 shots, breaking out of the game's final tie to take a 56-47 lead with 14:32 left in the game.
"In the first half, our shot selection wasn't great," Sparling acknowledged. "In the second half, it improved greatly. A lot of it had to do with nerves in the first half. In the second half, our guys made a couple small adjustments."
CWU increased the lead to as many as 11. But the Yellowjackets swarmed back, cutting the deficit to just two, at 69-67, win about seven minutes remaining. They would get no closer.
Defensively, CWU also blocked nine MSUB shots in the game, with four players—
Terry Dawn,
Caleb Dressler,
Joseph Stroud and
Drake Rademacher—recording two each.
"We have so many different guys, who can do so many different things," Sparling pointed out. "We're getting better each day, but there's still a lot of room for improvement."
Saturday, CWU continues GNAC play as the Wildcats will host Seattle Pacific (6-2, 1-0 GNAC) at 7:30 p.m. It's part of a women's and men's basketball doubleheader. The women will host Western Oregon, with tipoff slated for 5:15 p.m. The Falcons won 77-51 Thursday at Northwest Nazarene.
"Without a doubt, that's going to be a totally different style [of game]," Sparling noted. "We've got to make sure we understand what SPU's trying to accomplish and try to slow them down."
CWU has two remain non-conference home games on the schedule in December. After SPU, next up for the Wildcats will be non-conference action against Quest University Canada, on Friday, Dec 12, and Multnomah, Thursday, Dec. 18, which will be Dollar Night, as admission, hot dogs and soft drinks will be available for $1 each.
