Men's Basketball | 2/29/2016 6:08:00 PM

ELLENSBURG, Wash. (Feb. 29)  -- The Central Washington University men's basketball continues its 2015-16 season this Thursday when they travel to Lacey, Wash. to take on Seattle Pacific in the first round of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Tournament.
 
The Wildcats secured the fifth seed in the tournament, while the Falcons finished in fourth place.  The game will tip off at 2:15 p.m. and can be viewed live on Wildcatsports.com.
 
The two teams split the season series with both teams winning at home.  Most recently CWU defeated SPU 71-68 back on Feb. 13 behind a strong performance from Joseph Stroud who scored 20 points.
 
"We played well in our last meeting with SPU and we will look to capitalize in the areas we felt we had an advantage," CWU Head Coach Greg Sparling said.  "They are a good, well coached team and will make adjustment on their end, but there won't be any surprises, we know each other well.
 
Seattle Pacific comes into the contest riding a three-game winning streak.  Mitch Penner leads the Falcons, averaging 18 points a game and adds 5.6 rebounds a contest.  The Falcons are the conference's top rebounding team averaging 40.6 a game, just one more than the Wildcats.  They are also the GNAC leader in scoring defense allowing just 64.9 points per game and holding its opponents to just a 40.1 shooting percentage.
 
The Falcons have not been able to hold CWU to less than 42 percent shooting in either contest this year and in the last game the Wildcats shot a remarkable 50.9 from the field.
 
"Taking quality shots and taking care of the basketball was key in our home victory over SPU," Sparling added.  "If we can do that again, and rebound the basketball, we will put ourselves in a good position in this game."
 
The Wildcats and Falcons have met twice in the GNAC Tournament with each team winning once.  Central Washington was victorious over Falcons back in 2012 earning a slim 70-69 victory in the first round.  The teams met again in the semi finals a year later with SPU winning 85-78.

If CWU wins Thursday they will take on top-seeded Western Oregon on Friday, Mar. 4 at 2:15 p.m.
 
For ticket and schedule information for the GNAC Tournament, go to GNACsports.com.