ELLENSBURG, Wash. – Central Washington's hot shooting from Friday's game carried over into tonight's 84-65 victory over Westminster UT. The 'Cats made 12 threes and shot 53.4% from the floor.
Samaad Hector had another tremendous night securing a double-double with 18 points and 13 rebounds.
QUOTING HEAD COACH BRANDON RINTA
"This is fun basketball to watch when we pass it like that. Jordan, Brad, and Seth led the way with 13 of our 21 assists. Maverick and Samaad really capitalized on our ball movement when they got open. Samaad had a huge weekend. He dominated the rebounding tonight and was consistent offensively."
QUOTING SENIOR FORWARD SAMAAD HECTOR
When asked about the game, Hector said, "I think the game went well, considering all the factors that we were sitting in. Coming off a tough trip down in California, we could have easily let that loss by 25 affect our energy and effort for the rest of the season. To come out and handle a tough defense that is about the same level as San Bernardino and slow down their offense was big. That started with our energy and effort."
Samaad reflected on his great weekend. "I feel great after this weekend. One of my goals is to be an All-American and to start off our home series the way we did, put this team and me in a great spot moving into Thanksgiving weekend. We have two more tough tests next week. If we stay true to who we are and keep playing our game, we will be a very good team when conference play begins. We also had a lot of guys step up: Cam, Maverick, Jordan, Seth, Cavin, Brad, Mitch, and Jello. They are all guys who play high- level basketball, give nonstop effort, and they make my job easy due to the level of trust I have in them."
NOTABLE STATS
- Maverick Sanders led the 'Cats, scoring 19 points on 8-13 from the field and three from beyond the arc.
- The Wildcats had 21 assists led by Bradley Swillie and Jordan Clark with five a piece.
- Central Washington won the rebound battle 35-27, scored 32 points in the paint and converted 10 points off turnovers.
FIRST HALF
- Maverick Sanders got the crowd going slamming down a dunk in the opening minutes that put Central Washington up 7-4.
- Chase Potter hit a jumper for Westminster and then Tyler Kurtz got into the paint and scored. The Griffins took an 18-14 lead with just over twelve minutes left in the half.
- The Crimson and Black hit three in a row from beyond the arc. Cavin Holden buried one, then Hector stepped up and drilled one, and Bradley Swillie's dart brought the score to 25-18.
- The 'Cats scored the final six points of the half and had a 44-34 lead going into the break.
SECOND HALF
- Seth Dawson made a layup through contact and completed the "And One", which extended the 'Cats lead to twelve. A triple from Westminster's Rylan O'Brien made it, 56-45 in the early stages of the half.
- Both teams went back and forth for the next eight minutes. With six minutes remaining, Hector and Sanders both connected from beyond the arc to make it 71-52.
- The Wildcats made three more from beyond the arc to secure another home victory.
UP NEXT
- Central Washington travels to Nampa, Idaho next week to play in the NNU Thanksgiving Classic. The Wildcats play 11th ranked Point Loma on Friday and then face Azusa Pacific on Saturday.
