ELLENSBURG, Wash. - The Nanooks men's basketball team fell to the Central Washington Wildcats on Thursday, Feb. 8, 88-60. This snapped the 'Nooks two-game winning streak and dropped them to 5-14, 3-8 GNAC. 

CWU improves to 14-7, 7-5 GNAC. 

Central ran out to a nine-point lead in the first half with a 40-31 halftime lead. They did this despite Alaska shooting 50% from the floor and hitting two more three-pointers than CWU. The Wildcats extended their lead and won with a big second-half, outscoring the Nanooks 48-29 in the second. 

To open up the game, the Nanooks got the scoring started on a Demarcus Hall-Scriven jumper. Abdullahi Mohamed quickly responded with a three of his own, making it a 5-2 lead early in the first. The Nanooks maintained a small lead; Trey Anderson knocked down a three of his own at the 15:24 mark to give the Nanooks back the lead at 10-9. The two sides traded buckets and another three from Mohamed made it 15-13 Alaska. That was the last lead the Nanooks had. CWU quickly turned around, gained the lead and extended it to eight at the 7:20 mark.

Alaska managed to cut into the deficit, shaving it to four on a Mohamed layup followed by a Jaycson Bereal, Jr. layup, but CWU quickly responded and grew their lead to as many as 10. Alaska pulled back within seven but a pair of free throws down the stretch in the first made it a nine-point deficit at the break. 

Out of the locker room, Central quickly made it a double-digit game and never looked back. Their offense was too much for Alaska as the Wildcats shot 21-33 from the floor, posting a 63.6% shooting effort in the second-half and paired that with a 50% clip from three on six made threes. The 'Nooks posted a 34.7% shooting percentage from the floor and 37.5% from deep but could not keep pace with the Wildcats. 

CWU pulled away early in the second and went on to take the game 88-60. The Nanooks saw four of their five starters score in double-digits. They had a fifth player off the bench score in double-digits too. Trey Anderson led the Alaska offense with 13 points, shooting 5-6 from the floor and 3-3 from deep. He added three rebounds. Jaycson Bereal, Jr., Demarcus Hall-Scriven, Nick Hopkins and Abdullahi Mohamed all ended the night with 11. Hopkins added 10 rebounds for his second double-double of the season. 

Alaska is back in action Saturday at Northwest Nazarene. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. AKST. Live links can be found at AlaskaNanooks.com.

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