ELLENSBURG, Wash. (Jan. 12) – The Central Washington University men's basketball team (8-6, 2-4) fell to rival Western Washington University (9-7, 3-3) 73-65 at home Saturday evening.
 
Matt Poquette led the Wildcats off the bench with 18 points and four rebounds; Jackson Price added 14 points of his own. The Wildcats shot just 38 percent for the game and allowed the visitors to score 16 points off 13 turnovers.
 
"What worked well was just cutting and my teammates finding me while I was open and just trying to get to the paint as much as I can and not settle for jump shots," Poquette said. 
 
The Crimson and Black started hot shooting 4-7 from the field, spurred by sophomore forward Malcolm Cola's four points to build an 8-2 lead just four minutes in. The visitors countered with a 13-4 run of their own to take a narrow 15-12 lead midway through the first half.
 
"I thought Western did a good job defensively for a lot of the game," CWU Head Coach Brandon Rinta said. "We had stretches, I wouldn't say we were bad defensively, but there was a couple stretches there midway through the first half towards the beginning of the second half where we just had about a two minute-three-minute lapse and that allowed them some separation.  Anytime that were not able to score over 70-80 points its going to be tough for us. We gotta be able to score the basketball, gotta be able to get the ball inside, get the free throw line and knock down shots at a higher level"
 
The teams traded baskets the next several minutes of the period with neither separating by more than four points. The Vikings put together a few buckets in a row to increase their lead to six in the closing minutes of the period before Price crossed over a defender and nailed a three-pointer at the buzzer to trim the deficit to just three at the halfway point.
 
Price paced the home team with seven points in the opening frame while Cola and Gamaun Boykin added six points each. The Crimson and Black dominated points in the paint 22-10 and held the visitors to just 36 percent shooting.
 
Central allowed the visitors a 7-0 run to open the second half before recovering with seven of the next nine points to cut the deficit to three a few minutes into the half.
 
The Vikings built their lead back up to eight 52-44 with 11:56 remaining behind 4-8 shooting combined with 1-4 shooting for the Wildcats during the run.
 
The visitors pushed their lead out once more to 14 fueled by a 22-13 run. Western guard Tucker Eenigenburg scored six points, guard Leif Anderson added five of his own and the Vikings shot 9-14 with seven assists during the run.
 
The crimson and black trimmed the lead to single digits with just a few minutes remaining in the contest behind five points from Poquette. The Wildcats comeback attempt came up short as the home team closed the period shooting 1-5 from the field. The Viking played the possession game down the stretch to seal the victory; their third GNAC win of the season.
 
The Wildcats look back to get on the winning track Thursday, Jan. 17 against the University of Alaska Anchorage on the road. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.