BURNABY, BC ---

On Saturday night in the West Gym, Simon Fraser got their weekend back on track with a 75 to 57 win over Central Washington University. 

SFU began the game strong, putting the first five points on the board. They were able to maintain this lead early on, and jumped out to a 12 – 4 lead within the first four minutes of the half. Central Washington slowly worked away to reduce the the SFU advantage as the half went on, and by the time the game neared half time, the Wildcats were within a basket. At the half, Simon Fraser only held a single point lead, at 34-33, on the strength of a late Julian Roche free throw.

Othniel Spence opened up the second half with five quick points, and this helped re-build the Simon Fraser lead. Once again though, the Wildcats responded, and Central Washington crept up on Simon Fraser eventually tying up the score at 39 – 39. Then, in a back and forth period of the matchup, SFU went on a 10-0 scoring run which was followed by a 9-0 Wildcats run. At this point, with the score at 49-48 and just over ten minutes remaining, Simon Fraser finally broke the game open. Scoring 14 unanswered points, the home team never looked back, and eventually cruised to a 75-57 victory. The game was capped off by SFU's Corey Nzigamasabo, who put up the final four points for SFU.

Game leaders included Julian Roche, who recorded a double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Michael Hannan also put up 9 points, which was a career high for the senior. Jasdeep Singh added 8 points, 4 rebounds and 1 block.  Simon Fraser excelled shooting from the field, recording a 50.9% field goal percentage, and limiting the Wildcats to just 38.2% shooting.  

Up next, Simon Fraser will be heading north to play the University of Alaska Fairbanks on January 11th at 8PM.