ELLENSBURG, Wash. (Jan .23) – In front of a 2,619 fans inside of Nicholson Pavilion, the Central Washington University men's basketball team erased a 21-point second half deficit, but lost in the final seconds to rival Western Washington University 89-84.
 
The Wildcats fall to 11-4 on the season and 6-4 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, while the Vikings improve to 12-7, 6-4 in the GNAC.
 
Joseph Stroud scored a career-high of 34 points in the contest, none more important that a three pointer with 3:21 left in the contest that capped 23-5 run by the Wildcats to pull CWU to within three points.
 
With 1:02 left in the game the Wildcats took its first lead since early in the first half on a layup by Stroud.  Western Washington responded when Ricardo Maxwell made back-to-back baskets to put the Vikings up 87-84 with 11 seconds remaining.
 
Gary Jacobs brought the ball the length of the court and put up a desperation three that fell short and ended the Wildcats hopes of a comeback.
 
"At the end of the day, I was proud of the way our guys fought back in this game," CWU Head Coach Greg Sparling said.  "We left a missed a lot of free throws and made some mistakes that allowed Western to get a big lead.  Our guys never stopped competing, which is what we ask from them every day."
 
Stroud's 34 points led all scorers and the senior was efficient from the field making 12 of 15 shots, 3 of 4 from three-point territory.  Jacobs also had a great outing scoring 24 points on 10 of 18 shooting and recorded his second double-double of the season with 10 rebounds, six of which came on the offensive end of the court.
 
"Stroud played his best game as a Wildcat tonight," Sparling said of his senior center.  "Our game plan, like most games, was to work inside out and to find the hot hand.  Joseph was that hot hand tonight, he was fun to watch."
 
Central Washington held a 53.8 to 50.0 edge in field goal percentage, but the Vikings shots 82.1 percent (23-28) from the free throw line, including their first 16 of the game.  The wildcats converted on just 14 of their 26 shots from the charity stripe and committed 13 turnovers that led to 20 points for the Vikings.
 
Ricardo Maxwell was the heart and soul of the WWU offensive attack, scoring 31 points with 19 coming in the first half.
 
""We had too many turnovers that equated into points the other way," Sparling said, "We also had shots that rimmed out.  My hats off to Ricardo Maxwell, he had a phenomenal first half, we were able to contain him much more in the second half and a lot of that credit goes to Gary Jacobs."
 
 
Central Washington came out the gates running to start the game jumping out to a 16-7 lead, but the Viking stormed back to outscore the Wildcats 42-21 the remainder of the stanza to take a 49-37 lead heading into the break.
 
The teams exchanged baskets for the first five minutes of the second half before WWU went on a 16-7 run to take a 21-point lead midway through the half. 
 
The Wildcat defense began to find a rhythm, leading to the majority of the Wildcats fastbreak points on the evening, including a huge open court slam by Chris-Michael Garret, but in the end, the Vikings came out victorious 89-84.
 
It was all about rebounds and stops, we were able to get those late in the game and gave ourselves a chance to win," Sparling said about the second half comeback. "We had some big steals near the end of the game, but unfortunately we came up a little short."
 
Next up, the Wildcats will travel to Oregon to take on Concordia on Jan. 28 followed by a rematch with conference leading Western Oregon on Jan. 30.