Box Score

Post-game Interview - Anye Turner

BELLINGHAM, Wash. - Western Washington University jumped to a 21-point first-half lead, then had to survive a furious comeback to defeat arch-rival Central Washington University, 83-77, on Thursday, Feb. 12, in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference men's basketball contest at Sam Carver Gymnasium on the WWU campus.

Guard Ricardo Maxwell (Jr., Cincinnati, OH/Withrow) had a team-high 20 points for the Vikings, who won their fourth straight game and improved to 14-10 overall and hold the final conference tournament spot in the GNAC at 7-7.

Forward Jeffrey Parker (So., Richmond, CA/Salesian) had 18 points and nine rebounds for Western, and forward Anye Turner (Sr., Tumwater/Black Hills) had 17 points and a game-high 12 rebounds.

Guard Dom Williams had a game-high 23 points for Central, 15 of them in the first half. Gary Jacobs came off the bench to contribute 15 points and seven assists.

WWU used a 25-2 run to jump to a 27-8 lead a little over 10 minutes into the game.

The gap eventually got to 45-24 with just over three minutes left in the half, but Williams scored seven points in the dying moments of the period to narrow the score to 47-33 at halftime.

CWU used a run of 12 straight points early in the second half to close to within three, 53-50, with 13 minutes left. The Wildcats got to within two on two occasions, the final one on a Joseph Stroud dunk with 16 seconds left, but the Vikings got two free throws each from Kyle Impero (Jr., Everson/Nooksack Valley) and Turner for the final margin.

Center Mac Johnson (Jr., Spokane/Gonzaga Prep) had 10 points and seven rebounds for WWU, which had a 42-28 advantage in rebounds.

The Vikings entertain Northwest Nazarene University on Saturday, Feb. 14 (7 p.m.), in a GNAC counter.