PORTLAND, Ore.- Senior Jawan Stepney recorded a career-high 45 points to help the Central Washington University men's basketball team snap their three-game road losing streak. Behind the exceptional play of Stepney, the Wildcats downed the Concordia University Cavaliers 111-100 in double overtime Saturday afternoon.
 
Jawan Stepney led all scorers and just missed setting a new school record with 45 points, while also tallying a team-high seven assists. The Kent, Wash. native now ranks second on CWU's all-time list for points in a game, trailing just Ryan Pepper who dropped 46 points back in 1995.
 
Stepney joins a prestigious group of just seven former Wildcats to score 40 points in a single game. In addition, his performance in Portland also marks the first time CWU has had a player score 40 points in over four seasons and is the most points scored at CWU in the NCAA era.
 
Two other Wildcats recorded career-high point totals on the afternoon as Central Washington (9-8, 4-6 GNAC) overcame a 13-point first half deficit to the Cavaliers (4-14, 0-10 GNAC).
 
Junior Malik Montoya registered a career-high 20 points, while shooting 86-percent from the field (6-of-7). Montoya also added four rebounds and a steal to his stat line. Senior guard Austin Houtz also set a career-high with 12 points, while shooting 3-of-5 from beyond the arc, in just 14 minutes of action.
 
Leading the Wildcats down low was senior Fuquan Niles. Niles hauled in eight rebounds and registered four assists and six points.
 
Central Washington shot 55-percent from the floor overall, which included a 55.2-percent effort from three-point range. 31 of CWU's 38 points in the first half came from Montoya, Stepney and Houst.
 
Trailing 92-93 with 13 seconds remaining in the first overtime period, the Cavaliers failed to inbound the ball, allowing the Wildcats to gain possession. Central Washington's coaching staff utilized their remaining timeout to draw up a great play, but Coleman Sparling and Stepney failed to connect on a back door cut. Stepney didn't allow the mishap to shake his confidence, however, knocking down a pair of three-pointers over the final 19 seconds to force a second overtime.
 
The second overtime period was all Central as Stepney continued to be the catalyst the Wildcats needed to leave Portland with a win. Stepney scored eight of CWU's 16 points in the final period of action to escape with a 111-100 victory.
 
CWU travels to Nampa, Idaho next Tuesday (Jan. 23) to face Northwest Nazarene University at 6 p.m. They end the week taking on Montana State Billings on Saturday, Jan. 27 in Nicholson Pavilion.
 
-CWU-