LACEY, Wash. (Jan. 16) – The Central Washington University men's basketball team escaped a big second-half comeback by Saint Martin's University, defeating the Saints 75-71 Saturday evening in Marcus Pavilion.
 
The Wildcats, who improved to 10-3 on the season and 5-3 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference games, led by as many as 16 points late in the second half before SMU (7-9, 1-7) went on a 16-2 run to close the CWU lead to just one point.  The Wildcats held on to the victory, as Joseph Stroud blocked a wide open layup with seconds remaining, securing a CWU win.
 
"Their bigs were playing well and we started focusing a little too much on stopping them and lost focus of open shooters," CWU Assistant Coach Drew Harris said about the SMU second half surge.  "We really needed someone to make a game-changing play and Joseph did that for us late in the contest.  Anytime someone gets open under the hoop I am looking for Joseph and he reacted really quickly.  Stroud was tired and he dug deep and made a big play right when we needed it."
 
Stroud led the Wildcats with 20 points on 8 of 13 shooting, while hauling down eight rebounds and thwarting six SMU shots.  Joey Roppo and Naim Ladd each added 12 points.
 
Central Washington shot extremely well all game, making 48.1-percent of its shots, including 11 of 20 from long range.  Roppo scored all of his points from behind the arc, going 4 of 7.  Six different Wildcats hit a three-pointer in the game, three coming off the hands of Ladd.
 
"Coming off of last game where we didn't shoot very well, it was nice to get this performance tonight," Harris said of the team's efficiency from the field.  "We had the chance to get here earlier in the day and get some shots up and I think it paid off.  We took good threes tonight.  We forced a lot of bad three-pointers in our last game, but tonight I can't remember one three that I would consider a bad shot."
 
Ball control was an ongoing problem for CWU in the game, committing 19 turnovers which were converted into 22 points for Saint Martin's.  Saint Martin's had just nine turnovers in the contest but CWU held the home team to just four three pointers on 19 attempts, leading CWU to a 37-28 rebounding advantage for the Wildcats.
 
"The scout before the game was to take care of the ball," Harris added about the team's miscues during the game.  "The stats do not fully reflect how we played tonight, a lot of our turnovers came off of charges or their team making good plays. Despite what the stats show, we did better this game in terms of controlling the ball."
 
In the first half the Wildcats connected on 14 of 30 shots including 7 of 14 from three-point territory, leading to a 42-32 halftime lead.  Gary Jacobs led the first-half attack scoring nine points, five of which came from the charity stripe.  Jacobs also added six rebounds tying Stroud for the team's lead heading into intermission.
 
Central Washington trailed early in the opening half, but used a 10-2 run capped by a trey by Drake Rademacher to gain an 18-16 advantage.  The Wildcats refused to give in as they held the lead for the remainder of the contest.  Naim Ladd and Devin Matthews finished off the first half in style hitting back-to-back three pointers, with Ladd's coming with three second left in the period.
 
The Saint's used a 5-0 run to start the second half, but Roppo quickly responded with his third and fourth three-pointers of the game allowing the Wildcats to regain a double-digit advantage with just over 15 minutes left to play.
 
Once again the Saints rallied to pull to within five points of CWU, but another three-pointer by Ladd followed by a fast break score by Desmond Ross helped the Wildcats regain their 10-point lead.
 
Central Washington extended its lead off a big two-handed slam by Rademacher and a trey by Stroud to take a 65-51 lead with 7:59 left to play.  A late 16-2 run by SMU cut the CWU advantage to one at 72-71 with 40-seconds left to play.  The Wildcat defense forced a wild shot that was rebounded by Ladd who went to the foul line and made one of two free throws to give CWU a two-point lead with 17 seconds remaining.  The Saints had a wide open layup attempt, but Stroud came from across the paint to block his sixth shot of the game and secure the Wildcats' 75-71 victory.
 
Saint Martin's 7-foot center Fred Jorg scored a game-high 21 points, seven of which came from the free throw line.  Rhett Baerlocher added 15 points and made three of the Saints four triples on the night.
 
Up next the Wildcats play host to Simon Fraser and Western Washington on Thursday (Jan. 21) and Saturday (Jan. 23), respectively.  Saturday's matchup with the Vikings will tipoff at 6:00 p.m. and will be televised regionally on Root Sports.