Ellensburg, Wash. – The Central Washington University men's basketball team opened Great Northwest Athletic Conference play with a 75-80 loss to Saint Martin's Thursday evening in Nicholson Pavilion.
The Wildcats are now 3-3 on the season and fall to 0-1 in the GNAC. The Saint's continue their hot start to the season, improving to 6-1, 1-0 in the GNAC.
Freshman Khalil Shabazz was 8 of 16 from the field to lead the Wildcats with 21 points. Shabazz also added five rebounds, three assists and three steals.
Coleman Sparling came off the bench to add a career-high 14 points, and
Fuquan Niles scored 12 of 4 of 5 shooting.
Central Washington held a 39-29 halftime lead, due in large part to the play of the reserves. 24 of CWU's 39 first-half points came from the bench with
Drake Rademacher adding seven points in the frame, making all three of his shot attempts, while
Cameron Williams,
Naim Ladd and Sparling each had five.
Saint Martin's shot 50-percent from the field in the opening half, but turned the ball over 12 times, limiting its shots to just 24. The Wildcats shot 48.4 percent in the first half, and sank 5 of 7 from beyond the arc.
Niles got the Wildcats off and rolling in the second half with a massive slam, followed by a breakaway basket by
Jawan Stepney to take their largest lead of the game of 13.
Saint Martin's slowly chipped away at the CWU advantage, and with 5:45 remaining a Rhett Baerlocher layup gave the visitors its first lead since the 12:51 mark in the first half.
The Saints went on to build an 8-point lead with 24 seconds to play, but the Wildcats did not go down quietly, cutting the lead to three points on three-straight triples -- two by Shabazz and one by Stepney – but could not overcome the late game disadvantage.
Saint Martin's guard Luke Chavez led all scorers with 30 points, making 11 of 18 shot attempts, including 4 of 8 from long range.
The Saint's finished the game with a shooting percentage of 50.9, and went to the free throw line 12 more times than the Wildcats.
Central Washington will look to get back on track this Saturday, Dec. 2, when they host Seattle Pacific at 7 p.m.
