ELLENSBURG, Wash. (Jan. 9) – All five starters scored in double figures as the Central Washington University men's basketball won its fifth straight contest defeating Montana State Billings 87-75 Saturday evening in Nicholson Pavilion.
 
The Wildcats now stand 9-2 on the season and are now 4-2 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference after starting conference play 0-2.  They Yellowjackets are now riding a two game skid and sit at 6-8 on the year with a 3-3 GNAC record.
 
Senior guard Joey Roppo led the balanced offensive attack for the Wildcats with 19 points on 6 of 9 shooting making all six of his free throw attempts.  Joseph Stroud added his first double-double of the season with 14 points and 10 rebounds.  Gary Jacobs just missed out on a double-double with 16 points and nine caroms.  Devin Matthews and Drake Rademacher rounded out the starting unit with 14 and 12 points, respectively.
 
"Our guys did a good job of sticking to the game plan of committing to getting to the rim, working inside-out, and sharing the ball," CWU Assistant Coach Drew Harris said.  "We had a good second half last game at NNU and we wanted to carry that momentum into this game, and the guys were able to do that from start to finish."
 
As a unit, the Wildcats converted on 49.1-percent from the field and 42-percent from long range.  Central Washington was also steady from the charity stripe making 23 of 30, outscoring the Yellowjackets by eight from the line.  The Wildcats had assists on 16 of their 28 baskets with eight coming from the post.
 
"MSUB runs a similar style defense as NNU where they double down on the post," Harris added.  "Our goal was to spread them out and wait for the double-team then kick it out to the open shooter or find a cutter."
 
The defense held MSUB to just 39.1-percent and only allowed the Yellowjackets to convert on 8 of 29 shots from behind the arc.
 
The Wildcats never trailed in the ball game and jumped out to a 5-0 lead kicked off by a three-pointer by Matthews on the Wildcats first possession of the game.  Rademacher made sure the Wildcats stayed ahead scoring the Wildcats next five field goals including two shots from downtown.
 
"Rademacher is very good," Harris said of the 6-foot-8 sophomore post.  "He has played as our backup four-man all year and stepped up tonight in place of Terry Dawn who went down with a sprained ankle.  The things Drake has been doing in his past games are things we know he can do all season, it is just a matter of him staying healthy and continuing to work on getting better."
 
The Wildcats led by as many as 12 points in the opening half leading to a 39-32 halftime advantage.
 
 Central Washington went on a 25-12 run in the second half to break the game open with a 20-point lead at the 10:40 mark in stanza.  The Yellowjackets went on a 14-3 run to get to within nine points with 7:55 left to play, however, CWU answered with a 6-0 run with Jacobs sinking four of his team-high 10 free throws during the span.
 
The Wildcats held a double-digit lead for the majority of the remaining minutes with CWU finishing out the contest making its final 13 shots from the charity stripe en route to the final 87-75 win.
 
Three Yellowjackets scored 10 or more points in the gam led by Preston Beverly and Kendall Denham who scored 13 and 11, respectively.
 
The Central Washington Wildcats will next hit the road and face Seattle Pacific on Jan. 14, followed by a Jan. 16 matchup at Saint Martin's.