By: Jenessa Gladstone
Box Score Ellensburg, WA – Although the game was close throughout most of the night, a late run by the Central Washington Wildcats handed the Simon Fraser University men's basketball team an 86-70 loss.
Forward
Taylor Dunn (Vancouver, WA) led the Clan's effort with 18 points.
Elijah Matthews (Washington, DC) followed with 13, while
Ibrahim Appiah (Montreal, QC) added 11.
Dunn also led the Clan with seven rebounds while Matthews was a perfect eight for eight from the free throw line.
Wildcat Mark McLaughlin topped all players with 21 points. Nate Walker and Kevin Davis also helped out CWU, earning 15 each.
SFU shot a solid 77 percent from the free-throw line but the Clan could only manage to shoot 37 percent from field goal range and 32 percent from beyond-the-arc.
CWU outscored SFU in the paint, 44-20, and off the bench, 45-29.
Despite those struggles, the Clan kept the game close and led three times while neither team led by double digits until the final seven minutes of the game.
SFU took the initial advantage, jumping out to a 3-0 lead early on.
With 13:53 remaining until the half, the Wildcats responded with 7-1 run gaining a 9-4 advantage on the visitors.
The Clan would own the lead once again thanks to a three-point shot from John Bantock (Kamloops, BC) which put SFU up 15-14 with 11:08 on the clock until the break.
Although a jumper from Dunn tied the score at 22 with just under six minutes left in the half, the Clan were not able to regain the lead as CWU carried a 37-34 lead into the locker rooms at halftime.
The Clan kept it tight early in the second half, coming within one of the Wildcats on multiple occasions.
With 13:58 to play, a layup by Dunn gave SFU their first lead of the half, 52-51.
The teams traded baskets until the Wildcats used a 12-2 run to put the Clan in a 15-point hole, making it 78-63 for the home side with 3:50 remaining.
SFU's efforts in the final minutes were not enough to overcome the double-digit deficit, resulting in the 16-point defeat.
With the loss, SFU's record drops to 6-14 and 1-11 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play.
Finishing out their two-game road trip, SFU will turn their attention to Saturday, when they take on Northwest Nazarene University in Nampa, Idaho at 6:00 p.m. PST.
