Box Score BELLINGHAM, Wash. (Feb. 22) -- The Central Washington University men's basketball team tied its game with Western Washington University up at 91-91 with 2.6 seconds left on a shot by JB Pillard (Juanita HS), but WWU guard Richard Woodworth would end the Wildcats hopes of an upset as he sank a halfcourt shot as the buzzer sounded to defeat CWU 94-91 Saturday night in Bellingham.

The heartbreaking loss dropped the Wildcats to 11-13 on the season and 7-9 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.

Pillard had arguably his best game as a Wildcat scoring 27 points, making 12 of his 16 shots while hauling down seven rebounds and blocking four shots.  MARK MCLAUGHLIN (Inglemoor HS) also left his mark on the contest scoring 32 points with seven rebounds.

Hidden in all the drama of this game was the fact that KEVIN DAVIS (Todd Beamer HS) became the official leader in all-time career blocks in CWU history as he recorded two swats to up his total to 138.

In a fast paced first half, the Wildcats held their own matching the Vikings point for point for the majority of the stanza.  At the 7:26 mark the Vikings went on a run that ended with the home team earning a nine-point advantage.  CWU battled back, and sharp free throw shooting was the answer.  The Wildcats were 13-of-14 from the charity stripe, and also shot the ball decently well making 44.1 percent of their shots.

The Vikings were able to take a 48-43 halftime advantage as they shot 58.8 percent from the field and connected on five three-pointers, while the Wildcats had no treys in the period.

Central Washington came out sharp in the second half and took a 53-52 lead on free throw by KEVIN DAVIS.  The teams traded leads on a number of occasions in the second half, but the Vikings went on a 6-0 run and led 74-70 with 7:13 left in the contest.

Central led 89-88 with 16 seconds remaining and WWU guard Richard Woodworth would make a layup and got fouled on the play.  He made the free throw to take a 91-89 lead over Central.

CWU answered by tying the game up on a layup by Pillard to tie the game up with just 2.6 seconds left.  WWU guard took the inbound pass and raced to half court, and with a hand in his face he launched a mid-court shot that hit the bottom of the cup with no time remaining to give the Vikings a 94-91 win.

Western was led by Austin Bragg who scored 32 points on 14 of 18 shooting, and Woodworth who cored 20 points, most notably the halfcourt heave to win the game.

The Wildcats will their final two regular season games of the season next week as they host Seattle Pacific and Montana State Billings next Thursday and Saturday as part of a doubleheader with the women's team.