SEATTLE, Wash. -- Dom Hunter and Naim Ladd combined to score 58 of the Central Washington University Men's Basketball team's 99 points as the Wildcats defeated Dixie State University 99-95 in overtime Saturday afternoon in Seattle.
 
Hunter led all scoring with 33 points, making 9 of 15 shots including 5 of 10 from three, and converted on 10 of his 11 free throw attempts.  Ladd added 25 points on 8 of 16 shooting and made all five of his three pointers in the second half where the Wildcats battled back from an 11-point deficit to force overtime.
 
Terry Dawn only made three baskets in the game, and his final two couldn't have been more clutch as they came on the Wildcat's opening possessions of overtime to give CWU a quick six-point lead that they never relinquished.  Dawn finished the game with eight points and nine rebounds.
 
"Dom and Naim stepped up in the second half. Dom was getting to the rim and the line, and they both started nailing the long ball," CWU Head Coach Greg Sparling said.  "It was huge to get those big threes from Terry in overtime.  He can really shoot, and once we get him going, he can add points quicky… He was clutch tonight."

The Wildcats fell behind 0-7 to start the first half, and trailed by as many as 13 points with under five-minutes to play before Hunter went on a scoring spree, scoring all 12 of his first-half points in the final five minutes of play, including a three-pointer the landed good as time expired. 
 
The Wildcats shot 40.6-percent from the field in the opening half, but converted on just one of their 12 three pointers in the stanza.  Steady free throw shooting helped CWU keep close, making 9 of 11 shots in the period to go into the half down 36-43.
 
Hunter and Ladd took it upon themselves to help the Wildcats erase an 11-point second half deficit, scoring 34 of 50 second-half points, including 23 of the final 25 points.  Ladd hit a three with 4:36 remaining giving CWU its first lead of the game.  Later, Ladd found Jawan Stepney under the hoop for a layup with just 27 seconds left in the game to force overtime.
 
"I think the buzzer beater fired us up at halftime, we came out in the second and hit our shots," CWU Senior Dom Hunter said.  "We kept running our offense and we kept knocking down shot after shot.  My father always told me that if something is working, why stop? That is what happened in the second half, we found a rhythm and we just stayed in it."
 
Jerome Bryant added 11 points, nine of which came from the charity stripe, while Stepney added eight.  Fuquan Niles played 28 minutes off the bench for the Wildcats and added 12 rebounds.
 
As a team, the Wildcats shot 40.8 percent in the contest and 78.4 percent from the free throw line (29 of 37).  The Trailblazers shot 41.5 percent, but made just 55.6 percent of their 36 free throw attempts.  Central also benefited from sharp three-point shooting making 12 of 34 after starting the game 0 for 11 from behind the arc.
 
Dixie State was led by Trevor Hill who scored 22 points and grabbed 15 rebounds.
 
The Wildcats return to action tomorrow when they face #17 Minnesota State-Mankato at 12:30 p.m. on the campus of Seattle Pacific University.