NAMPA, Idaho (Jan. 31) — With 3.6 seconds remaining in the game, Central Washington University (12-5, 7-3 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) was down by two points. Dom Williams got the in-bounds pass and sped down the floor as it looked like he was going to take the final Wildcat shot.
 
But Williams spotted Joseph Stroud open on the other side of the key and made a lob pass in his direction. Stroud went up to catch the pass to dunk it for the tie. But it glanced off his fingertips, as time expired, and the Wildcats fell 66-64.
 
"He [Williams] had the corner turned and probably could have gotten to the rim," explained head coach Greg Sparling. "But he threw it up to Joe and 99.9 percent of the time he's going to bring that down [for a basket].  Unfortunately, it didn't happen like we wanted it to."
 
The dunk could have capped a remarkable comeback for the Wildcats, who found themselves down 64-58 with 1:24 left in the game. But Williams hit a three-point shot and Devin Matthews completed a three-point play to knot the game, for the seventh and final time, at 64 with 29-seconds remaining.
 
"Late in the game, our guys battled back and got us in a position for overtime or to win the game," added Sparling, who called the contest the most disappointing loss of the year.  "We had our opportunities and led most of the way but, at the end, it slipped away."
 
It was a loss that allowed NNU to complete a season sweep of the Wildcats, which included a 74-67 victory in Nicholson Pavilion earlier in the season.
 
On the night, the Crusaders outscored the Wildcats by 15 points from the free throw line, as CWU was called for 23 fouls in the game. In the first half, Stroud played just five minutes, after picking up his second personal, while his backups, Jerome Bryant and Drake Rademacher, had two and three fouls, respectively, before halftime.
 
It was a situation that Sparling said had a big impact on how he had to guard NNU star big man Kevin Rima, who ended the night with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
 
"The foul difficulty in the first half was huge," Sparling stated. "Joe barely played any after he started the game two for two [shooting]. But our freshman went in there and gave us some good minutes. Drake and Jerome had to play some big minutes for us against an all-league guy."

Before the game, Sparling announced that guard Jordan Russell had been dismissed from the team. The junior from Tacoma had averaged 10.6 points per game off the bench for CWU.
 
"I want to thank Jordan for his efforts over the past year and a half with us," Sparling said. "I wish him nothing but the best in the future."
 
Next up for CWU are home games Thursday and Saturday against Western Oregon and Saint Martin's. Tip off is set for 7 p.m. both nights, with Saturday being Hawaiian Night, as all Wildcat fans are encouraged to come dressed in their aloha wear.