Seattle, Wash. (Nov. 16) -- The Central Washington University men's basketball team (2-1) traveled west of the mountains to play in the Sodexo Classic Friday night. The Wildcats started out the tournament with a matchup against Azusa Pacific University (2-2). The Wildcats picked up an 85-80 victory over the Cougars.
 
"That was a gutsy second half by the guys to pull out the win," CWU Head Coach Brandon Rinta said afterward.  "We were turning it over and didn't defend like we are capable of the last 15 minutes of the first half. I give our leadership on this team a lot of credit for tightening things up out of half time. Malik [Montoya], Gamaun [Boykin], and Jackson [Price] made some big plays down the stretch to get us the lead back.  Azusa is a good team. They don't beat themselves. We are going to play a similar team tomorrow in Westminster. Hopefully that second half can carry over into tomorrow."
 
After ten minutes of play, the Wildcats lead the Cougars 20-19.  The APU offense got hot and began their success in the paint. The Cougars shot 61% from the field in the first half. The Wildcats went into the half trailing the Cougars 41-50.
 
Things didn't turn around as quickly in the second half as the Wildcats would have liked. The Cougars came out and continued to find success on offense, increasing their lead to 57-46. After a few turnovers and missed shots from both teams, the Wildcats turned things around starting with a couple of momentum swinging free throws from Jackson Price.
 
The Wildcat defense came up with some big defensive stops with the help of five steals. Central dominated the boards collecting 37 rebounds, 14 of which were offensive rebounds. Seventeen second half free throws helped the Wildcats crawl back into the game. With 11:35 left to play, the Wildcats came back and tied the game at 59-59.
 
Jeryn Lucas gave the Wildcats the lead with a jump shot following an APU timeout to try and slow down Central. A clutch three pointer from Price with eight and a half minutes left to play gave the Wildcats a 66-63 lead.
 
Central shot 66 percent from behind the arc in the second half and finished 82 percent from the free throw line to secure the victory in the first game of the Sodexo Classic.
 
The Wildcats were led by their starting five who put up 71 of the 85 points. Malik Montoya had a game-high 20 points and was four of four from behind the three-point line and two of two at the free throw line.
 
The Wildcats play again tomorrow at 3pm in Seattle as they play Westminster College for their second game of the tournament.