CWU-WWU rivalry goes postseason

YAKIMA, Wash. — Central Washington and Western Washington have a long and storied men’s basketball rivalry, but Friday night, they’ll do something they’ve never done before.

Friday’s NCAA Division II West Region quarterfinal game will mark the first time these programs will face each other in a D-II postseason game.

The 7:30 p.m. contest at Sam Carver Gymnasium in Bellingham will mark the 241st meeting between the schools, but the last time they met in the postseason was 1998, when Central defeated the Vikings 88-84 to qualify for the NAIA National Tournament.

The next season, both teams made the jump to D-II.

Central (16-10) will also be trying to end Western’s recent run of dominance in the series. The Wildcats lead the all-time series 151-89, but they have lost nine of the past 12 meetings, and 10 of the past 11 games played in Bellingham.

That includes two losses to the Vikings (25-5) this season — 84-70 on Jan. 23 in Ellensburg, and 90-86 on Feb. 28 in Bellingham.

Friday’s winner will play the winner of the 5:30 p.m. quarterfinal featuring Cal Poly Pomona (22-6) and Dixie State (20-5) in one of Saturday’s semifinals. The region championship is at 7 p.m. Monday.

The other first-round pairings have GNAC champion Seattle Pacific (22-5) facing Pacific West Conference co-champion Brigham Young-Hawaii (20-5) at 12:30 p.m., and California Collegiate Athletic Association foes Cal State San Bernardino (22-7) and Humboldt State (22-7) meeting at 2:30 p.m.

NCAA DIVISION II WEST REGION

Friday’s games

Seattle Pacific (22-5) vs. Brigham Young-Hawaii (20-5), 12:30 p.m.

Cal State San Bernardino (22-7) vs. Humboldt State (22-7), 2:30 p.m.

Cal Poly Pomona (22-6) vs. Dixie State (20-5), 5:30 p.m.

Western Washington (25-5) vs. Central Washington (16-10), 7:30 p.m.

Saturday’s games

Seattle Pacific–BYU-Hawaii winner vs. Cal State San Bernardino-Humboldt State winner, 5 p.m.

Cal Poly Pomona-Dixie State winner vs. Western-Central winner, 7 p.m.

Monday’s game

Regional Championship, semifinal winners, 7 p.m.

Local report: Three Wildcats named to all-GNAC men’s teams

Junior guard JC Cook was named the newcomer of the year and joined two Central Washington University teammates on the Great Northwest Athletic Conference’s men’s basketball all-conference team announced Monday.

Cook averaged 14.7 points during the regular season, ranked ninth in conference scoring and eighth in 3-pointers with a team-high 50.

Cook was also named to the all-conference second team along with Central’s junior center Chris Sprinker. Senior point guard Jon Clift earned honorable mention.

The Wildcats begin play in the NCAA Division II West Region tournament on Friday in Bellingham against an opponent to be announced.

Seattle Pacific’s Chris Banchero was named the GNAC’s player of the year.

Player of the Year: Chris Banchero, Jr., Seattle Pacific.

Newcomer of the Year: JC Cook, Jr., Central Washington.

Freshman of the Year: Tarance Glynn, Western Oregon

Coach of the Year: Ryan Looney, Seattle Pacific

First team

Morris Anderson, Sr., Western Washington; Chris Banchero, Jr., Seattle Pacific; Brandon Larrieu, Sr., Seattle Pacific; Blake Poole, Jr., Saint Martin’s; Brandon Walker, Jr., Alaska Anchorage; Derrick Webb, Sr., Western Washington.

Second team

DeAndre Chambers, Jr., Montana State Billings; JC Cook, Jr., Central Washington; Drew Eisinger, Jr., Northwest Nazarene; Chris Sprinker, Jr., Central Washington; Blair Wheadon, So., Western Oregon; Derrick Wright, Sr., Montana State Billings.

Honorable mention

Zach Bruce, Sr., Western Washington; Jon Clift, Sr., Central Washington; Rob Diederichs, Sr., Seattle Pacific; DaVell Jackson, Sr., Montana State Billings; Emmanuel Jenkins, Sr., Alaska Fairbanks; Nashorn Maynard, Jr., Alaska Fairbanks; Rico Myles, Sr., Western Oregon; Casey Robinson, Jr., Alaska Anchorage.

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PREP GOLF

Rams 2nd at Pasco Invite

PASCO — West Valley’s Eric Gravbrot was second on a tiebreaker and led the Rams to a runner-up finish in the Pasco Invitational at Sun Willows Golf Course.

Gravbrot shot 69 for a first-place tie with Walla Walla’s Drew Reinland, who won medalist honors on a second-hole tiebreaker.

Southridge clipped West Valley by a stroke, 312-313, for the team title.

Team scores: Southridge 312, Kamiakin 313, West Valley 313, Hanford 318, Richland 324, Othello 324, Mt. Spokane 326, Walla Walla 331, Eastmont 335, Wenatchee 345, Moses Lake 351, Ferris 359, Kennewick 362, Chiawana 373, East Valley 376, Eisenhower 391.

West Valley scores: Eric Gravbrot 69, Kameron Lamb 78, Steven Snipes 82, Matt Mickelson 84, Jerrod Daily 86.

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GOLF

Woodard scores ace

Nic Woodard recorded a hole-in-one on the sixth hole at the Yakima Country Club on Sunday.

Woodard used an 8-iron on the 168-yard hole. Barry Woodard, Randy LaRiviere and Cody LaRiviere witnessed the shot.

CWU men earn postseason berth

ELLENSBURG, Wash. — They’re not sure who they’re playing yet, but that uncertainty is of little consequence to Central Washington’s men.

The Wildcats will play in their third consecutive NCAA Division II West Region tournament, having been included in the field Sunday night.

CWU (16-10) will compete in the tournament which is scheduled for Friday, Saturday and next Monday in Bellingham. Central’s first foe will likely be host Western Washington, the region’s top seed, though opponents and seeds will not be announced until Tuesday when regular-season games that will impact regional seeding are completed in Hawaii.

In addition to Western, which swept this season’s series from Central 84-70 in Ellensburg and 90-86 in Bellingham, the only other GNAC team in the tournament will be Seattle Pacific.

“A lot of stars lined up in the last three days,” CWU coach Greg Sparling said. “But the bottom line is our kids put themselves in a position to get in by beating Saint Martin’s (Saturday night) in overtime.”

Central has made the playoffs in four of the past five years, but has not won a postseason game since 2001.

The Wildcats, having lost Humberto Perez to a broken hand five games ago, lost successive games to SPU and Western, then seemingly jeopardized their postseason hopes with a home loss to Montana State Billings. But an overtime win at home Saturday night over Saint Martin’s apparently put Central over the top.

As for playing Western again, Sparling said, “One thing is they lost in the first round last year when they were hosting, and it is tough to beat a team three times in a row. But it’s like I told the kids tonight, there will be only one D-II team that will end its season with a win.”

Tyler leads Wildcats past Saint Martin’s

ELLENSBURG, Wash. — Toussaint Tyler scored the first four points of overtime to propel Central Washington past Saint Martin’s 78-70 in the regular-season finale for both teams Saturday night in Nicholson Pavilion.

The Wildcats, 10-6 in GNAC play and 16-10 overall, will learn their postseason fate today when the NCAA Division II playoff field is announced. They had lost their three previous games, including a home defeat Thursday night to Montana State Billings.

CWU was ranked eighth in last week’s regional poll and must finish at that spot or higher to make the West Regional tournament.

The Wildcats will host a pairings announcement gathering at The Palace restaurant starting at 6 p.m. today. The field is scheduled to be announced at 6:30.

“We started a little tight tonight and got down by 14 in the first half,” Central coach Greg Sparling said. “But we battled back to cut it to five at halftime and then chipped away.”

CWU led by as many as six points during the second half, but the Saints (4-12, 14-13) tied it with 13 seconds to play on a 3-pointer by Galen Squiers. Fouled by J.C. Cook, Squiers missed the free throw.

Central then committed a turnover before Saint Martin’s missed a shot at the buzzer.

After Tyler’s buckets, Sparling said Chris Sprinker hit a turnaround jumper from the baseline “that pretty much sealed the deal.”

Jon Clift led Central with 15 points, Sprinker had 12 points and 14 rebounds and Tyler and Noble’D Shelton had 11 points each.

Blake Poole had 31 points and 17 rebounds to lead Saint Martin’s.

SAINT MARTIN’S — O’Neill 0-3 1-2 1, Green 3-11 3-6 9, Blake Poole 12-22 6-8 31, Galen Squiers 4-15 1-3 12, Bomber 2-5 0-0 6, Taylor 1-5 2-2 4, Votaw 2-7 0-0 5, Henze 0-0 0-0 0, Dodson 1-5 0-0 2. Totals 25-73 13-21 70.

CENTRAL WASHINGTON — Clyde 1-2 0-2 2, Sivak 4-4 1-2 9, Chris Sprinker 6-10 0-012, Jon Clift 5-10 5-6 15, Noble’D Shelton  4-9 3-4 11, Snowden 3-6 1-1 9, Miller 0-0 0-0 0, Cook 2-6 4-8 9, Gibler 0-0 0-0 0, Toussaint Tyler 5-7 0-0 11. Totals 30-54 14-23 78.

Halftime — SMU 38, CWU 33. 3-point goals — SMU 7-23 (O’Neill 0-1, Green 0-2, Poole 1-1, Squiers 3-9, Bomber 2-5, Taylor 0-1, Votaw 1-4); CWU 4-12 (Clift 0-1, Shelton 0-3, Snowden 2-4, Cook 1-3, Tyler 1-1). Fouled out — None. Rebounds — SMU 37 (Poole 17); CWU 45 (Sprinker 14, Clyde 11). Assists — SMU 14 (Squiers 4, Bomber 4); CWU 12 (Shelton 3). Turnovers — SMU 9, CWU 16. Total fouls — SMU 19, CWU 20.

Defeat Likely Cripples CWU Playoff Hopes

ELLENSBURG, Wash. — Central Washington’s control of its playoff destiny, precarious though it was, has probably vanished.

The Wildcats, who badly needed wins in their final two games, were dealt a serious-if-not-fatal blow Thursday night in the form of a 92-85 loss to Montana State Billings in GNAC play in Nicholson Pavilion.

CWU’s third straight loss dropped it to 9-6 in the conference and 15-10 overall going into Saturday night’s regular-season finale at home against Saint Martin’s.

Central was eighth in this week’s regional poll, and needed to at least maintain that spot in the final rankings to be announced Sunday to qualify for its third consecutive postseason bid.

But Billings, with guards DaVell Jackson and DeAndre Chambers combining for 60 points, overcame a 48-40 second-half deficit and snapped a 64-64 tie with a decisive 14-2 burst.

Jackson, en route to a game-high 34 points, was 9-for-12 from the foul line and Chambers, who had 26, was 9 for 11.

The Yellowjackets (9-6, 15-9) enhanced their own playoff hopes despite getting no points from their bench.

J.C. Cook led CWU with 23 points, but needed 23 field goal attempts to reach that total. Riley Sivak and Shane Miller had 14 points each and Jon Clift added 10.

Roby Clyde and Chris Sprinker grabbed 12 and 11 rebounds, respectively, as Central amassed a 48-37 advantage on the glass. But MSUB made 32 of 44 free throws compared with the Wildcats’ 21 of 30.

MSU BILLINGS — Mike McCrary 2-6 8-10 12, Lasha Parghalava 4-11 2-4 12, Wright 2-4 4-7 8, DaVell Jackson 12-16 9-12 34, DeAndre Chambers 6-17 9-11 26, Taylor 0-1 0-0 0, Blaine 0-0 0-0 0, Hentzen 0-0 0-0 0, Hickman 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-55 32-44 92.

CENTRAL WASHINGTON — Clyde 4-4 0-3 8, Riley Sivak 4-12 4-4 14, Sprinker 2-5 5-8 9, Jon Clift 4-12 0-0 10, J.C. Cook 7-23 2-2 23, Shane Miller 5-8 3-5 14, Gibler 0-0 0-0 0, Tyler 0-4 7-8 7. Totals 26-68 21-30 85.

Halftime — CWU 35, MSUB 33. 3-point goals — MSUB 8-20 (McCrary 0-1, Parghalava 2-5, Jackson 1-1, Chambers 5-12, Taylor 0-1); CWU 12-16 (Sivak 2-3, Clift 2-8, Cook 7-19, Miller 1-2, Tyler 0-4). Fouled out — Sprinker, Tyler. Rebounds — MSUB 37 (Parghalava 8); CWU 48 (Clyde 12, Sprinker 11). Assists — MSUB 11 (Jackson 4); CWU 16 (Clift 7). Turnovers — MSUB 10, CWU 13. Total fouls — MSUB 20, CWU 26.

Central falls to 8th in region

ELLENSBURG, Wash. — Central Washington dropped to eighth in this week’s NCAA Division II West Region basketball poll, leaving the Wildcats in position for a third straight playoff berth.

Central, 15-9, has remaining home games today against Montana State Billings and Saturday against Saint Martin’s. The final regional poll will be released Sunday, and a top-eight finish for CWU will mean another postseason bid.

Last week, Central suffered road losses to the region’s top two teams, Seattle Pacific and Western Washington. The Wildcats, seventh last week traded places in the poll with Cal State San Bernardino.

3 Wildcats on all-academic team

ELLENSBURG, Wash. — Jon Clift, Noble’D Shelton and Sara Bergner of Central Washington were included on the GNAC’s academic all-conference team which was released Wednesday.

Clift, a senior from Spokane, has compiled a 3.20 grade point average in accounting. Shelton, a senior from Auburn, has a 3.29 GPA in business administration and Bergner, a senior from Bellingham, has a 3.25 GPA in business administration.

Also named to the women’s team was West Valley High graduate Katie Hawkins, a junior at Saint Martin’s. The English major has a 3.69 GPA.

Vikings make most of middle

Central men lose big early lead, but rally back to make it interesting ||

BELLINGHAM, Wash. — Central Washington both started and finished strong in its regionally televised matchup with Western Washington on Sunday night.

In between, however, the Vikings had much the better of the action, and dealt the Wildcats a 90-86 GNAC defeat in Sam Carver Gymnasium.

Central’s loss, its fourth straight to its archrival and 15th in the last 22 meetings, left it 9-5 in conference play and 15-9 overall. The Wildcats were ranked seventh in last week’s NCAA Division II West Region poll and must finish in the top eight to make the playoffs.

Western, ranked 22nd nationally and second regionally, improved to 11-4 and 24-5.

“During the middle of the game we didn’t rebound very well,” CWU coach Greg Sparling said, “and we wanted to go inside more and didn’t. But the kids battled back in a very tough environment and on live TV, and I’m very happy about that.”

Jon Clift’s 23 points led four Wildcats in double figures, but Central was without junior guard Humberto Perez, its fifth-leading scorer, who’s out for the season with a broken hand.

Central scored the first 11 points to temporarily calm a raucous, sellout crowd, but the Vikings recovered to take a 44-36 halftime lead. WWU’s advantage reached 16 in the second half and was 80-70 with 54 seconds to play.

The Wildcats staged one final, frenzied burst fueled by four 3-pointers — two each by Clift and Toussaint Tyler. But Western, which was 30 for 35 from the foul line including 26 of 29 in the second half, made 10 of 11 free throws down the stretch.

Morris Anderson’s 22 points led the Vikings, who also got 17 points from Harold McAllister and 13 points and 10 boards from Rory Blanche. The latter two were reserves who helped WWU’s bench to a 47-11 scoring advantage.

“We extended the game,” Sparling said, “and if they’d missed a couple of free throws we might have closed it out. But what we have to do now is win our last two and give ourselves a chance to make the playoffs.”

The Wildcats close their regular season with home games Thursday night against MSU Billings and Saturday night against Saint Martin’s.

CENTRAL WASHINGTON — J.C. Cook 5-12 1-2 15, Sivak 3-6 1-2 7, Chris Sprinker 6-11 0-1 12, Jon Clift 7-15 4-6 23, Toussaint Tyler 7-13 2-2 18, Snowden 0-2 0-0 0, Clyde 3-3 1-2 7, Miller 1-3 0-1 2, Gibler 1-4 0-0 2, Nelson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 33-69 10-16 86.

WESTERN WASHINGTON — Webb 2-8 4-4 8, Zach Bruce 5-6 0-2 10, Vanderjagt 0-2 3-4 3, Morris Anderson 7-18 6-6 22, Ready 0-2 0-0 0, Harold McAllister 4-6 6-8 17, Rory Blanche 3-7 6-6 13, Cameron Severson 4-8 5-5 14, Mitchell 1-1 0-0 3. Totals 26-58 30-35 90.

Halftime — WWU 44, CWU 36. 3-point goals — CWU 10-20 (Cook 3-6, Clift 5-9, Tyler 2-4, Snowden 0-1); WWU 8-17 (Webb 0-2, Anderson 2-6, McAllister 3-5, Blanche 1-1, Severson 1-2, Mitchell 1-1). Fouled out — None. Rebounds — CWU 31 (Tyler 7, Clyde 5); WWU 44 (Blanche 10, Severson 7). Assists — CWU 11 (Clift 5); WWU 11 (Anderson 4, McAllister 4); Turnovers — CWU 9, WWU 14. Total fouls — CWU 25, WWU 16.

Ellensburg locales to host fans

ELLENSBURG, Wash. — Four Ellensburg businesses will host gatherings for Sunday night’s Central Washington-Western Washington basketball game, which will be televised live on FSN.

They include The Palace Cafe, The Tav, Wing Central and Wing Central’s Roadhouse Grill.

New York Pizza and Bar in Bellingham will also provide a friendly environment for Wildcat fans.

The game is scheduled to start at 7:04 p.m.

SPU knocks off CWU in a shootout

SEATTLE — Central Washington University’s men’s basketball team had little trouble scoring Thursday night as it tried to extend its winning streak against Seattle Pacific.

Unfortunately, the Wildcats had problems at the other end of the floor, and the result was a tough 100-92 GNAC loss to the Falcons, putting a dent in Central’s postseason hopes.

“We didn’t play any defense,” Central coach Greg Sparling said after SPU snapped an eight-game, regular-season losing streak to the Wildcats. “We definitely put enough points on the board, but their guards really stepped up.”

Sparling was referring to Chris Banchero and Rob Diederichs.

Banchero scored from everywhere on the court, finishing with 34 points, with Diederichs dishing out a whopping 19 assists while committing just one turnover.

“Banchero had a great game … (and) I don’t think I’ve ever seen a line where a guy has 19 assists to just one turnover,” Sparling said.

Seattle Pacific (21-3 overall, 12-1 GNAC), the top-ranked team in the NCAA Division II West Region and ninth nationally, clinched no worse than a tie for the GNAC title, which assured them an automatic D-II tournament berth because the Falcons own the tiebreakers.

Central (15-8, 9-4) is clinging to the No. 7 spot in the region rankings — the top eight make the playoffs — and face another difficult road test Sunday at Western Washington, which is ranked second in the region. That 7 p.m. game will be televised live on Fox Sports Northwest.

“(Thursday’s loss) is going to affect us, but we still control our own destiny,” Sparling said, noting that Central finishes the regular season with two home games. “We just have to put this one behind us now and more forward and get ready for Western.”

That task was made more difficult with news that versatile forward Humberto Perez will miss the rest of the season. Sparling said Perez suffered a broken hand during last week’s game against Northwest Nazarene.

Junior Chris Sprinker led the Wildcats on Thursday with a career-high 25 points, but Sparling said the team stopped going to him and Cody Gibler, who finished with 12 points, late in the game, helping the Falcons to pull away.

“Gibler and Sprinker were playing extremely well inside, but in the last eight minutes, they only the touched the ball two or three times each,” he said. “We got down seven and some guys started thinking the three-ball was the way to go. … We shot (and missed) three balls and they (SPU) ran out on us and all of a sudden we’re down 12 and it’s panic mode.”

Toussaint Tyler added 16 points and Shane Miller 15 for Central.

Brandon Larrieu had 20 points, Jeff Downs 13, and Ryan Sweet 12 for the Falcons.

CENTRAL WASHINGTON — Sprinker 10-15 5-5 25, Tyler 7-17 1-2 16, Miller 2-3 10-10 15, Gibler 6-10 0-0 12, Clift 4-9 0-0 11, Sivak 3-10 0-2 7, Cook 1-10 1-2 3, Clyde 1-2 0-0 2, Snowden 0-1 1-2 1, Nelson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 34-77 18-23 92.

SEATTLE PACIFIC — Banchero 11-20 11-11 34, Larrieu 7-14 3-4 20, Downs 4-6 4-5 13, Sweet 6-11 0-0 12, Anderson 3-3 1-2 7, Diederichs 2-2 2-2 6, Wardell 0-1 4-4 4, Morse 1-3 0-0 3, Vranes 0-1 1-2 1, McHugh 0-0 0-0 0, Hope 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 34-61 26-30 100.

Halftime—Seattle Pacific 53, Central Washington 47. 3-Point goals—Central Washington 6-21 (Clift 3-5, Tyler 1-5, Miller 1-2, Sivak 1-1, Snowden 0-1, Cook 0-6, Sprinker 0-1), Seattle Pacific 6-10 (Larrieu 3-4, Downs 1-3, Banchero 1-1, Morse 1-2). Fouled out—Clift, Clyde. Rebounds—Central Washington 33 (Sprinker 8), Seattle Pacific 40 (Diederichs 10). Assists—Central Washington 18 (Clyde 4, Cook 4, Clift 4), Seattle Pacific 30 (Diederichs 19). Total fouls—Central Washington 21, Seattle Pacific 18. A—1,221.

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