Men's Basketball | 2/17/2016 12:34:00 PM
ELLENSBURG, Wash. (Feb. 17) – The Central Washington University men's basketball team hits the road to play Western Washington University on Feb. 18, followed by a Feb. 20 matchup with Simon Fraser.
The Wildcats have already secured a berth in the 2016 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Tournament, but they still have a chance at finishing the regular season as the second seed in the tournament. Currently the Wildcats rank fifth, but a win over WWU and SFU would allow CWU to jump at least one spot in the rankings.
"It is always nice to clinch a playoff spot, but we have much more to play for," CWU Head Coach
Greg Sparling said. "We may only have four games left this season but they are the biggest four games of our season."
Central Washington will take on a Western Washington team that has lost four straight contests and stand with a 14-11 record, 8-8 in the GNAC. If the rivalry wasn't enough, the Vikings will have a lot to play for this Thursday as they hold just a 1.5 game lead on the sixth and final GNAC tournament spot.
"Right now our focus is on Thursday and getting our guys ready to take on the Viking," Sparling added. "Western is a very dangerous and talented team, it doesn't matter how many games they have dropped lately, they still have weapons and can beat anyone in this conference."
The Vikings have not lost five consecutive regular season games since the 2006-07 season where seven straight GNAC games.
Saturday's game at Simon Fraser will be the Wildcats third matchup with the Clan this season with CWU winning both contests to date. Simon Fraser is coming off a week where they won their second game of the season, a 90-70 decision over Concordia of Oregon.
"Simon Fraser is not playing like a team that is 2-20 right now," Sparling added. "They ran through Concordia and had Western Oregon on their heels. They have tweaked their lineup a little bit and it seems to be paying off, we need to make sure to bring energy and force our game on them Saturday night."
