Men's Basketball | 2/14/2015 9:04:00 PM
Box Score BURNABY, British Columbia, Canada (Feb. 14) —
Gary Jacobs connected on 12 of 13 shots from the field and combined with
Dom Williams to score 51 points, as the Central Washington University men's basketball team (14-7, 9-5 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) won 112-84 Saturday at Simon Fraser University (10-13, 5-10 GNAC).
Jacobs called it "easily" his best game of the season, made possible by his "using my athleticism, using my speed to get past people when I had the ball. I give a lot of credit to my teammates," he said.
The fast pace of the game also suited Jacobs' numerous strengths.
"The type of game that SFU plays is my style—running and getting up and down the floor," Jacobs acknowledged. "I have a high motor and I was really looking forward to this game. "
The game was tied five times, the last being at 20-all. The Wildcats then went on a 45-27 run over the final 12 minutes of the first half to lead 65-47 at intermission.
"We just kept pushing the ball and getting transition buckets," Williams explained about the decisive run. "It was a fun game for our team because a lot of our guys can score in transition. We were really focused and determined to get a win. We weren't going to go 0-2 this week."
Williams was referring to the second game of the road trip, following the Thursday 83-77 loss at Western Washington University.
CWU head coach
Greg Sparling added, "Our guys stayed focused and, once they got the lead, they kept building the lead. We kept them [the Clan] at bay the whole game. I thought we did a nice job sharing the basketball. We stuck with the game plan, and executed it, and got out with a W [win]."
CWU had set of goal of holding SFU, the nation's highest scoring team at 107 points per game, to just 86. They beat the mark by a single point.
"That's pretty impressive on their home floor," Sparing acknowledged of the Wildcats' defensive effort.
With the win, the Wildcats assured themselves a spot in the upcoming GNAC playoffs.
"We can't be satisfied with it [earning the playoff spot]," Sparling said. "We've got to get ready for our next opponent, [University of] Alaska Anchorage. They're a good club. But we want to keep climbing and try to get that first round bye. There are still a lot of games left and we've got to keep getting better."
Those GNAC byes go to the top two finishers in the conference regular season.
The game against UAA is Thursday, followed by a Saturday game against the University of Alaska. Both are scheduled to tip off at 7 p.m. in Nicholson Pavilion.
