ELLENSBURG, Wash. – The Central Washington University men's basketball team (5-2) finished the opening home stand with a blowout 104-71 win over the Walla Walla Wolves on Saturday night at Nicholson Arena.
 
Quoting Head Coach Brandon Rinta
"We had some good defensive stretches tonight.  We did a great job of creating for each other with 25 assists. Brad and Jalen led that, combining for 10 assists. When we did miss, we had good effort on the offensive glass, grabbing 20 offensive rebounds for 22 second chance points."
 
Notable Stats

• Jamari Harris led scoring with 20 total points, followed by Bradley Swillie and Garrett Marrs with 18 points each.
• Swillie led in assists as well–recording six assists, followed by Jalen Childs with four.
• Chae Haynes led under the hoop with 10 rebounds, while Harris and Marrs each recorded seven boards.
• Swillie also shot well from the field–going 7-9 for a .778 percentage, while also leading with five steals, followed by Jordan Clark with four takeaways.

 
First Half

• The Wildcats came out strong–opening the first half with a 10-5 run.
• Both teams found scoring chances as Central held its lead.
• Walla Walla started to find a spark around the 12-minute mark–getting within four points and then cutting the lead to two about 20 seconds later.
• The Wolves kept the score close for the next couple minutes before CWU began finding strong scoring chances and built its lead back up to eight points.
• Then, the 'Cats got the lead to double-digits and continued to build the lead.
• Both teams scored well, but the Crimson and Black continued its pressure and finished off the first half with a 53-30 lead.

 
Second Half

• The second half saw Central continue to apply pressure and build on its lead.
• Walla Walla continued to find ways to score on good chances, but the chances were not as plentiful as the Wildcats'.
• The second half saw a first-time appearance from Luke Westerfield, who scored a couple minutes later as he rebounded his first shot and finished it off for his first points as a Wildcat.
• The second half also saw Harry Davies score his first points as a Wildcat after he scored on a layup with 10:10 remaining.
• CWU continued to score and eventually broke the 100-point marker as Harris hit a layup on the fastbreak to give the 'Cats a 101-64 lead.
• Harris would get a three-pointer about a minute later to give the Crimson and Black their final points of the game as they finished the game winning 104-71.

 
Up Next
The Wildcats are back at it next weekend, as they travel across Snoqualmie Pass to take part in the SPU Thanksgiving Classic against No. 7 Point Loma on Friday, Nov. 28, followed by a matchup against Vanguard on Saturday, Nov. 29.