ELLENSBURG, Wash. -- The Central Washington University men's basketball team battled back from a 17-point second half deficit to pull to within two points of the visiting Seawolves from Alaska Anchorage University, but fell short, losing its GNAC opener 92-98.
 
The Wildcats start Great Northwest Athletic Conference play with an 0-1 record and move to 4-2 on the season.  Anchorage improves to 5-2, 1-0 in the GNAC.
 
Naim Ladd helped spearhead the Wildcats late game comeback, scoring 15 of his 18 points in the second half, including eight in the final 4:50 of the contest.  Ladd hit back to back threes with 2:30 left to play to pull the Wildcats to within three points.
 
"Ladd and Hunter were a great one-two-punch, and they have been all year," CWU Head Coach Greg Sparling said.  "I am very proud of our effort tonight.  We shot the ball extremely well and it kept us in the game.  There are areas of improvement though.  We have to rebound the ball and we have to tighten things up on defense, but overall, we competed at a high-level tonight."
 
Dom Hunter did more than his part to help the Wildcats get back into the game, scoring 30 points on 8 of 13 shooting, including five three pointers.  Hunter hit a step-back three in front of two defenders to pull CWU within two points of UAA, but the Wildcats did not get any closer, losing 98-92.
 
Alaska Anchorage was red hot all night, converting on 61.2 percent of its shots from the field, and was 13 of 19 from behind the arc. 
 
The majority of the UAA points came off the hands of Suki Wiggs who scored a game-high 46 points, missing only three of his 17 shots attempts on the day.  In the first half alone Wiggs scored 27 points and was a perfect 5 of 5 from long range.  For the game, he finished 7 of 8 from three.
 
As a team, the Seawolves missed just nine first half shots, shooting 65.4 percent from the field.  The Wildcats shot a stellar 55.2 percent from the field in the opening stanza, but could not keep pace with the hot shooting visitors.
 
Both teams excelled offensively in the second half with UAA taking a slight 56.5 to 51.5 edge in field goal shooting.
 
"Credit to Anchorage, they shot the lights out tonight," Sparling said of his opponent.  "They are not a one-man show, they have players who can knock down shots, their offense was firing on all cylinders.  Any time you shoot over 50-percent you expect to win, it's a tough game to swallow, but we will work hard tomorrow and come back ready to go this Saturday."
 
The Wildcats return to action Saturday when they host Alaska at 7:30 p.m.