Feb. 24, 2007
Box Score
Ellensburg, WA - The Alaska Nanooks controlled Central Washington for one half and looked to be in good position for a rare road sweep with a nine-point halftime lead. However, the Wildcats came alive with 42 points in the final 15 minutes to key a 74-67 Great Northwest Athletic Conference win over the Nanooks at Nicholson Pavilion Saturday night.
Senior Jushay Rockett (Long Beach, CA) finished with game-highs of 24 points and 12 rebounds. Junior Kenny Barker (San Diego, CA) added 12 points and five rebounds and sophomore Colin Matteson (Lynnwood, WA) had 10 points including 3-of-5 three-pointers.
Alaska (17-11 overall, 8-6 GNAC) had a shot to take sole possession of second place in the GNAC but instead drops to fifth with two games remaining. Despite the loss, the Nanooks remain in the mix with first-place Seattle Pacific (17-9, 10-5), second-place Central (14-11, 9-5), third-place Seattle (16-8, 8-5) and fourth-place University of Alaska Anchorage (18-8, 9-6).
Lance Den Boer and Tyler Monk led Central with 15 points each. Grant Assink scored all 13 of his points in the decisive second half for the Wildcats.
Rockett scored 15 points in the first half as Alaska built leads as big as 14 over CWU. Two Rockett free throws made it 32-18 with 1:34 left in the first. But Central closed the half on a 6-1 run to cut it to single-digits and pick up Rockett's second personal with just five seconds left. The run was a sign of things to come in the second.
The turning point in the game came after two Jordan Hayter free throws put the Nanooks up 42-32 with 15:17 left in the game. The Wildcats went on a 17-4 run started by an Assink three at the 14:05 mark and capped by a Bryce Daub dunk with 9:05 left to go ahead 49-46.
The two teams battled over the next six minutes with the Wildcats never leading by more than four points. Two Rockett free throws with 2:43 left made it 61-59 CWU but Nate Jackson answered back with a jumper. The shot started an 11-4 spurt that made it 72-63 with 20 seconds left and put the game out of reach.
The Nanooks will remain on the road until their last road game of the season at Northwest Nazarene Feb. 27. The rare Tuesday night game will tip-off 5:00 p.m. AST. Live stats will be available at NNUsports.com and streaming radio can be found at 820sports.com.
