ELLENSBURG, Wash. – Central Washington University men's basketball hosts a trio of GNAC games, starting with rival Western Washington University.
 
GAME INFORMATION
Tuesday, February 8
7:00 PM
Vs Western Washington
Nicholson Pavilion
Ellensburg, WA
LIVE STATS | WATCH
 
Thursday, February 10
7:30 PM
Vs Alaska Fairbanks
Nicholson Pavilion
Ellensburg, WA
LIVE STATS | LIVE ON SWX
 
Saturday, February 12
6:15 PM
Vs Alaska Anchorage
Nicholson Pavilion
Ellensburg, WA
LIVE STATS | WATCH
 
K-12 NIGHT – FEB. 8 vs WESTERN WASHINGTON
Tuesday night's game against Western Washington is free to attend for students grades 5-12.

QUOTABLE
"This is a big week for this team as we look to host three quality teams in Western Washington, Alaska Fairbanks, and Alaska Anchorage," CWU Head Coach Brandon Rinta said. "Each game we play seems to carry more weight as we work deeper into GNAC play."
 
SCOUTING WESTERN WASHINGTON
The Vikings dropped both their games in Alaska last week, the final coming to 81-75 in each game. The losses brought Western's overall record to 11-8, while their GNAC record dipped below .500 at 4-5.
 
Western snapped a three-game winning streak last Thursday at Alaska Fairbanks. After being tied 32-32 at the half, an early 16-2 run for the Nanooks took the wind out of the Vikings' sails. D'Angelo Minnis led the Viks' with 19 points, while Daniel Hornbuckle recorded 18. Luke Lovelady notched 17 points and six rebounds. Western was without leading scorer Jalen Green on their trip to Alaska after Green suffered a knee injury in in the Vikings' last home game against UAA.
 
Minnis led the Vikings' offense again against the Seawolves, tallying 24 points, but Western's comeback effort came up short. Lovelady added a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds.
 
Western missed 15.2 points per game from Green during their Alaska adventure. The junior from Renton, Washington is shooting 58 percent from the floor this season and 41.7 percent from long-range. Green is also recording an average of 6.3 rebounds per game, just shy of Lovelady's team-leading 6.5. As a team, Western Washington averages 81.95 points per game, while allowing 74.84. The Viks are knocking down shots at a clip of 49.8 percent, after shooting over 50 percent until this past weekend.
 
When the old foes squared off in Carver, the Vikings slipped past Central on a near buzzer beater from Green, 90-88.
 
SCOUTING ALASKA FAIRBANKS
Alaska (6-10, 3-7 GNAC) swept Western Washington and Simon Fraser in their last two outings. The consecutive wins come on the back of a three-game skid.
 
The Nanooks played shorthanded against both WWU and SFU, dressing only six players. Quin Barnard, Abdullahi Mohamed, and Coleman Sparling led the Nanooks in both contests, combining for 43 points against Simon Fraser and 62 against the Vikings. The trio also combined to miss just 13 minutes against SFU, 11 of which came after Mohamed fouled out. Against the Vikings, Barnard, Mohamed, and Sparling combined to play all but seven minutes.
 
On the season, Barnard is in second in scoring for the Nanooks. He averages 14.6 points per game. Shadeed Shabazz is currently the leading scorer at 21.2 points per game, but has not played since the Nanooks took on Montana State Billings on January 29. Sparling is pulling down 8.3 rebounds per game, while scoring at a clip of 9.2 points per game, to lead the Nanooks' efforts. He has totaled 133 boards, 35 of which have come off the offensive glass.
 
As a team, the Nanooks are being outscored 79.50-76.63. Opponents are also slightly more successful from the field at a clip of 46.9 percent to Alaska's 43.0 percentage.
 
Alaska got the better of the Wildcats when Central visited the Last Frontier. Regulation time wasn't enough as the 'Cats and Nanooks sent the contest into overtime. A driving layup from Shabazz tipped the scales in favor of UAF, 97-95.
 
SCOUTING ALASKA ANCHORAGE
The Seawolves' (10-5, 53 GNAC) Oggie Pantovic earned GNAC Player of the Week honors after averaging 24 points on a shooting percentage of 65.0, 8.3 rebounds, and 3.7 assists as UAA went 2-1 last week.
 
Anchorage dropped their opening game at Western Washington in overtime, 93-91, before grabbing back-to-back wins against Simon Fraser (71-59) and Western Washington (81-75).
Pantovic led the Seawolves' offense with 30 points against Western Washington in Anchorage, helping UAA thwart a potential Viking comeback. Despite the final margin, Anchorage led for all but 69 seconds of the game. They took the lead with 6:49 left in the first half and never looked back. Pantovic added another 22 points and nine rebounds to his efforts against Simon Fraser.
 
Leading the Seawolves' offensive efforts on the year, however, is Tobin Karlberg. The junior guard is averaging 17 points per game, while shooting 45.6percent from the floor. He is 39-for-101 from beyond the arc and 30-for-36 at the charity stripe. Karlberg has also recorded a team-high 21 steals.
 
The Seawolves are outscoring opponents 77.07-70.80, outshooting them 46.4 to 45 percent, and out rebounding the opposition 34-30.8.
 
THE WILDCATS
Central enters the week with a 12-5 record overall and 6-3 in conference play.
 
Last week, the Wildcats fell to Saint Martin's in a 94-83 affair. The Wildcats shot over shot over 50 percent on the night. Smith finished shooting 12-for-17 from the field, 3-for-5 from deep, and 2-for-2 at the free throw line. He added six rebounds, including three offensive rebounds, a block, an assist, and a steal. Matt Poquette (13) and Marqus Gilson (10) also totaled double digit scoring efforts. Gilson led the 'Cats with eight rebounds. The rebounding battle finished dead even at 31 boards per team. Central claimed an 8-6 advantage. The Crimson and Black's reserves tallied 20 points. Micah Pollard and Amari Stafford both scored seven, while Isaiah Banks added six.
 
The Wildcats stayed within four until 11:27 remained in regulation. Four consecutive buckets from Saint Martin's turned a 61-60 lead into a 69-60 advantage. Smith and Poquette notched back-to-back baskets, but a pair of treys for Saint Martin's pushed the gap to nine. Saint Martin's reached its first double digit lead with 4:41 on the clock, 78-68. Central cut their deficit to single digits a trio of times in the final five minutes, but it was not enough to overcome the Saints.
 
Central then defeated NNU 93-70. The Crimson and Black dominated the first half, as they shot 21-for-36 and held the Nighthawks to a 9-for-29 line from the field. Central connected on over half of their first half chances from deep, closing the 20-minute period with a 5-for-9 mark. Northwest Nazarene, meanwhile, managed just a 2-for-10 effort from deep. Central spent all but the first nine seconds of the game with the lead, taking their largest lead of the opening stanza with 4:29 on the clock – a 32-point margin, 46-14. The Wildcats recorded 13 assists in the first half.
 
Central finished 38-for-70 from the floor, scoring 54 points in the paint. They picked up 18 assists as a unit. David Thompson and Colby Gennett led the Crimson and Black with four assists each. Eight different Wildcats recorded at least one assist.
 
COVID FAN POLICY
Masks are required for all spectators at all times in Nicholson Pavilion.