LACEY, Wash. – Senior center
Fuquan Niles became the Central Washington University's new career leader in block shots, but the men's basketball team lost its regular season finale 68-75 against Saint Martin's Saturday evening.
Niles needed just one block to break the school record and recorded the exact amount and now stands with 145.
Central finishes the regular season 15-12, 10-10 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, and landed in the sixth spot for the upcoming GNAC Tournament next week in Anchorage Alaska. The Saint's finished 22-6, 15-5 in the GNAC and will face the Wildcats as the third seed at 12 p.m. in the opening game of the tournament next Thursday, Mar. 1.
Jawan Stepney led all scorers with 25 points on 9 of 18 shooting, including 5 of 10 from three-point territory. Stepney started the game 9 of 11 but missed his final seven shots.
Central Washington shot 39.7-percent from the field which was slightly below its opponent who shot at a 40.3-percent clip. The Wildcats did earn a rebounding advantage, 42 to 40, and gathered 13 offensive rebounds, resulting in nine second chance points.
The Wildcats trailed 36-34 heading into halftime. Stepney paced the CWU offense with 16 points in just 11 minutes of action due to foul trouble. Stepney made his first three shots and finished the half 6 of 7 including 3 of 4 from downtown.
The Wildcats held an 11-point lead with 10:01 to play, but the Saints used an 8-0 run to climb back into the game, taking the two-point lead at the half.
Central used a quick 5-0 run to open the second half behind a tip-dunk by Niles and a three from Stepney. The Wildcats led by as many as six and held the lead until the 7:19 mark where the Saints gained a two-point edge.
Both teams exchanged leads twice before the Saints went on an 11-2 run to take an eight-point lead with under a minute to play, before walking away with the seven-point victory.
Saint Martin's had four players score in double figures, led by Luke Chavez with 19, followed by Matt Dahlen's 16.
