NAMPA, Idaho -- Senior forward Sage Woodruff scored a career-high 26 points off the bench to lead the sharp-shooting Central Washington University men's basketball team to a 99-89 victory over Northwest Nazarene to sweep the season series with the Nighthawks.
 
The Wildcats are now 10-8 on the season and 5-6 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, and NNU is now 9-8, 5-6 GNAC.
 
The Wildcats sweep the season series for the second time in three years with this win and their 80-67 win back in December.
 
Woodruff previous high was 16 points, a mark he has hit three times this season, and he broke that in the first half alone where he totaled 18 points.  Woodruff finished 9 of 20 from the field and sank five three pointers in the game.
 
"That was Sage's [Woodruff] best performance in a Wildcat uniform," CWU Head Coach Greg Sparling said.  "He knocked down everything that came his way and attacked the rim with a lot of aggression.  Sage is a very lethal scorer when he goes to the rim.  He is long and athletic, and when you can shoot it as well as he does, he presents a matchup nightmare if he can get to the rim."
 
Woodruff had a lot of help, especially for the CWU reserves who pitched in a season-high 65 points.  Khalil Shabazz captured a chunk of the bench points with 21 on 5 of 8 shooting.  Shabazz, who missed the Wildcats last game due to injury, made 8 of 10 shots from the charity stripe including four in the final seconds to seal the win.
 
"Our bench was huge tonight," Sparling added.  "Khalil [Shabazz] was banged up but was able to get some good rest and played well tonight.  Karsten [Chaplik] also made some big shots in the first half that really allowed us to open the lead."
 
Karsten Chaplik made the most of his 18 minutes of play by scoring a career-best 12 points, all of which coming from three where he missed just one of his five shots. 
 
Jawan Stepney followed up his 45-point performance last Saturday by scoring 12 points, and led the team, along with Malik Montoya, with four assists.
 
The beginning minutes of the first half saw both teams struggle, until Sage Woodruff came of the CWU bench and ignited the Wildcat offense scoring eight points in four minutes, including two threes to give his team a 23 -12 lead with 11 minutes to play.
 
Back-to-back treys by Chaplik and Stepney followed by a sweeping finger roll by Woodruff extended the CWU lead to 33-17.  Woodruff and Chaplik continued to torch the Nampa nets as the duo finished the half with a combined 30 points and made 8 of 10 from three-point territory.
 
Up 55-33 at halftime, the Wildcats jumped out to a 26-point lead with 16 to go and held an 81-56 advantage at the midway point.  The Nighthawks began to chip away at the CWU cushion and pulled to within nine points with 2:04 remaining, but the Wildcats knocked down five of six free throws down the stretch coupled with Woodruff's fifth and final trey of the contest to close out the 10-point road victory.
 
The Wildcats shot a scorching 51.7-percent from the field, and lite up the gym from long range making 55.6-percent (15 of 27) from behind the arc.
 
 The Nighthawks shot a respectable 47.5-percent from the field, but connected on 7 of 27 three point attempts and missed 12 of 36 free throws.
 
Northwest Nazarene got a banner performance from Jayden Bezzant who led the Nighthawks with 23 points, followed by Maurice Jones with 18.
 
The Wildcats will next host Montana State University Billings this Saturday, Jan. 27 at 7 p.m. inside Nicholson Pavilion.