MONTEREY BAY, Calif. – The Central Washington University men's basketball team erased a 14-point second half deficit to force overtime where they outscored Cal State San Bernardino by five to take a 89-84 victory in the season opener for the Wildcats.
The Coyotes led by 14 points with just over 10 minutes remaining in the game, but the Wildcats used a 20-5 run to take a 77-76 lead and after the teams exchanged free throws they headed to overtime tied at 78.
"We talked about making stops and getting rebounds, and we did a great job of that in the second half," CWU Head Coach
Greg Sparling said. "We told our guys that we are going to score, we just have to get stops. We dug in, didn't let them get second chance points, and knocked down our free throws. I am extremely proud of the way we battled tonight."
Central scored the first baskets of overtime on a layup by
Fuquan Niles and a jumper in the lane by
Dom Hunter. The Wildcats led by as many as six in the overtime period before securing the five point win.
Hunter shook off a rocky first half of shooting to finish with 29 points, eight of which came from the charity stripe where he was perfect on the night. Hunter added four rebounds, three assists and four steals.
"
Dom Hunter is still trying to knock the rust off after not playing for a year. He got to the rim when we asked him to and made his free throws down the stretch," Sparling said. "And Ladd is a wild card because he can go by you or shoot over you, and he did both tonight."
Niles and
Naim Ladd aided with 18 and 17 points, respectively. Niles was 7 of 10 from the field and gathered seven rebounds. Ladd shot 7 of 16, 2 of 7 from three. Both
Jawan Stepney and
Chris-Michael Garret finished with nine points.
"Fuquan was huge for us tonight. He banged down low and played excellent on both ends of the court," Sparling added. "When we get production like that from your bench, you more than likely will have a chance to win. Guys like
Chris-Michael Garret who come off the bench and give you quality minutes, and put pressure on the other team are nice to have as a reserve."
The Wildcats shot 42.9-percent from the field and scored 36 points off 23 Coyote turnovers. CSUSB outshot the Wildcats, and outscored CWU from the free throw line, but the Wildcats put up 21 more shots.
The Wildcats were just 5 of 17 in the first half from three, but settled down in the second half scoring the majority of their points in the paint and at the line.
"We had a talk during the break about some of the shots we were taking early in this game," Sparling said. "We told them to attack the rim and clean up the glass. Anytime you get 17 offensive rebounds, you give yourself extra opportunities at high percentage shots."
The Wildcats return to action tomorrow when they play Cal State Monterey Bay at 5 p.m.
