ELLENSBURG, Wash – The Central Washington University men's basketball team let a 16-point lead slip away, falling to Concordia University 90-95 Thursday evening in Nicholson Pavilion.
 
The Wildcats now stand with a 12-5 record, 7-4 within the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.  The Cavaliers jump to 8-10, 4-7 in the GNAC.
 
The Wildcats quickly jumped in front of the Cavaliers, leading by 10 points near the mid-way portion of the first half, and pushed that lead to 16 with 4-minutes to play in the stanza, but the Cavaliers shots 59.4 percent in the second half and converted on 19 of 25 free throws down the stretch to take the 95-90 victory.
 
The Wildcats shot a respectable 47.4 percent from the field in the second half, but could not find an answer for the hot shooting Cavaliers who scored points on its final nine possessions of the game.
 
Dom Hunter led all scorers with 34 points on 12 of 23 shooting, which included 6 of 12 from long range.  Fuquan Niles had his most impressive game of the season for the Wildcats, scoring 16 points, and collecting a season high 17 rebounds.  His rebound output is tied for third most in school-history for a single game.  The 6-foot-11 junior also earned five blocks on the night.
 
Jawan Stepney also had a solid outing for the Wildcats, scoring 20 points and brought down a season-high nine rebounds.
 
Concordia held a slight shooting advantage at 49.2 percent to CWU's 46.2, but the biggest difference in the stats came at the foul line.  The Cavaliers attempted 37 free throws in the game, making 27, while the Wildcats shot just 12 for the entire game, getting outscored by 20 points at the charity stripe.  In the second half alone, CU shot 25 freebies to the Wildcats six.
 
Leading the Cavaliers was Drew Martin who scored 25 points and hauled down nine rebounds.  Latrell Wilson added 22 points off the bench, and Jarrett Gray scored 17 points, making 3 of 4 from behind the arc.
 
The Wildcats will look to get back in the win column this Saturday (Jan. 26) when they play host to Western Oregon University at 7:30 p.m.