ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Dec. 3) – The Central Washington University men's basketball team suffered its first loss of the season in its Great Northwest Athletic Conference opener against Alaska Anchorage by a score of 93-65.
 
The Wildcats fall to 4-1 on the season and start GNAC play with a 0-1 mark.  The Seawolves improve to 7-4, 1-0 in the GNAC.
 
Alaska Anchorage outshot the Wildcats 50.8-percent to 37.3-percent.  The Wildcats entered the game averaging 102 points a game and a shooting percentage of 54.2.
 
 
Joseph Stroud led the Wildcats with 14 points and nine rebounds, while Joey Roppo and Gary Jacobs added 12 and 10 points respectively.
 
Devin Matthews once again stuffed the stat sheet for CWU with nine points, seven rebounds and nine assists.
 
The Seawolves outscored CWU 44-30 in the paint, led by forward Corey Hammel who scored 19 points and grabbed 13 rebounds. 
 
The Wildcats jumped out to a six-point lead in the first half but the Seawolves rallied back making six-straight baskets to take a 26-19 lead with just under 11-minutes remaining in the half.  Alaska Anchorage then went on an 8-0 run over a 2:20 span to take a 34-22 lead with 7:56 left in the frame.
 
Matthews handed out six assists in the first half, and a pair of his dimes helped the Wildcats cut the lead to seven on a three pointer by Roppo and a jump shot by Chris-Michael Garret.
 
Anchorage shot 54.3-percent from the field in the first half, building a 51-33 lead heading into intermission.  The Wildcats shot just 38.2-percent from the field and was 2 of 11 from behind the arc, while the Seawolves connected on 5 of 12 shots from long range.
 
Alaska Anchorage started the second half off making five of its first 10 shots while the Wildcats made 1 of 4 as the home team built a 63-37 lead with 15:02 left in the contest.
 
The Wildcats trailed by as many as 31 points as the Seawolves finished with the final 93-65 advantage.
 
The Wildcats will next face Alaska on Dec. 5 at 3 p.m. PST.