CWU misses point guard, free throws in loss to SMU

LACEY, Wash. — Central Washington, hoping to continue a late-season surge to gain the final berth in the GNAC men’s basketball tournament, missed a golden opportunity Thursday night.

The Wildcats, coming off a rousing home upset of conference champion Western Washington, were unable to overcome the absence of scoring leader Lacy Haddock plus 17 missed free throws in a 99-84 loss to Saint Martin’s in Marcus Pavilion.

The defeat, coupled with Northwest Nazarene’s loss at Western Oregon, left CWU (7-10 GNAC, 13-12 overall) with a one-game lead on the Crusaders for the sixth and final tournament berth. Each team has one game left — Central visits Western Oregon and NNU plays at Saint Martin’s — on Saturday.

Haddock, CWU’s starting point guard and a 15.8 point-per-game scorer, injured his knee during Saturday night’s win over Western Washington, according to head coach Greg Sparling. The problem was initially thought to be a bruise, but Wildcats training personel later diagnosed the injury as pull or tear of the meniscus.

His status is described as day to day.

“We definitely missed him tonight,” Sparling said. “But we also missed too many shots to have even had a chance to win this game. Going 2 for 14 from the 3-(point) line is not going to get it done, and a handful of the free throws we missed were the front ends of one-and-ones.”

The Saints (5-12, 9-17), who lost at Central 76-61 on Dec. 3, shot 59.6 percent from the field, getting 34 points and 16 rebounds from Jeremy Green and 22 points from Roger O’Neill.

Kevin Davis came off the bench to score 27 points for CWU, hitting 12 of 16 shots, while fellow reserve Brandon Magee had 13 points. But Roby Clyde was the lone Central starter to score in double figures with 11 points.

The Wildcats were 10 for 19 from the foul line in the first half and 8 for 16 in the second.

Saturday’s game at Western Oregon (11-6, 18-8) is scheduled to start at 2 p.m. Central lost to the Wolves 77-75 in Ellensburg on Dec. 1.

“We only have so many lives,” Sparling said, “so it’s time for us to step up and take care of our business at Western Oregon and not worry about what happens at Saint Martin’s later on Saturday night.”

CENTRAL WASHINGTON — Roby Clyde 4-6 3-8 11, Coby 2-8 1-1 6, Tyler 2-9 2-4 6, Johnson 2-5 1-2 5, Starr 1-5 2-2 4, Kevin Davis 12-16 3-5 27, Brandon Magee 4-15 5-10 13, Lieser 3-3 1-3 7, Gross 2-3 0-0 5, Nelson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 32-70 18-35 84.

SAINT MARTIN’S — Jeremy Green 12-17 9-11 34, Roger O’Neill 7-11 7-8 22, Brok Pendleton 6-10 4-6 16, Brady Bomber 1-3 9-10 12, Votaw 2-4 0-0 6, Norman 2-3 1-2 5, Bond 1-1 0-0 3, Stoney 0-0 1-2 1, Dodson 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 31-52 31-39 99.

Halftime — SMU 48-41. 3-point goals — CWU 2-14 (Coby 1-5, Tyler 0-2, Magee 0-6, Gross 1-1); SMU 6-12 (Green 1-4, O’Neill 1-1, Bomber 1-2, Votaw 2-4, Bond 1-1). Fouled out — Tyler, Gross. Rebounds — CWU 37 (Magee 8); SMU 38 (Green 16). Assists — CWU 12 (Gross 4); SMU 21 (Votaw 7). Turnovers — CWU 11, SMU 13. Total fouls — CWU 25, SMU 24.