BY CHANCE WEEKS-WILLIAM, Staff Reporter

Recently, Central Washington University’s senior guard Mark McLaughlin became the fastest player in Great Northwest Athletic Conference to score 1,000 points.

“It’s cool it means a lot, I’m trying to leave a legacy here, I’d rather get a championship that’s the ultimate goal,” McLaughlin said.

McLaughlin is currently the nation’s leading scorer, averaging 28.3 points per game, he is almost unstoppable at times. To go along with this he has a very respectable shooting percentage with almost 50 percent from the field, 33 percent from behind the three-point line and is No. 11 in the GNAC with 3 assists per game.

McLaughlin has been on a tear lately, earning GNAC player of the week (second time in the last three weeks, and the third time this year) and making more history by being the second player in GNAC history, and first player in Central history to post back-to-back games of 40 plus points.

McLaughlin contributes his success to his teammates and coaches more than himself.

“Having good coaches and good teammates that allow me to do that,” McLaughlin said. “You can’t do it if your teammates are selfish or if your coaches don’t call good plays for you, a lot of it goes to them.”

His first 40-point game came against rival school Western Washington University where he scored 43 points but came up short as the Wildcats lost 99-94. In that same game he made even more Central history by making 42 straight free throws over a six game span.

It didn’t take long for him to “rebound” as he put up 40 points the next game against Simon Fraser University on the following Saturday. In that two game tear he was shooting an astronomical 68 percent from the field, and 55 percent from downtown.

Scoring isn’t the only thing McLaughlin does well head. Head coach Greg Sparling says that he’s a great passer and that is what has helped McLaughlin and other teammates do well.

“Our guys understand that when he’s scoring its going to give them more scoring opportunities,” Sparling said. “The JB Pillards and the Kevin Davis are seeing the rewards of that and getting the rebounds and the put back baskets.”

The best is yet to come for McLaughlin. If he continues on this pace he will be the schools leader in points-per-game average, which has been the same since 1967. He is the current leader with 24.8 points-per-game, which is three points more than Central Hall of Famer Mel Cox.

“Mark is a volume shooter, he’s a high percentage volume shooter,” Sparling said. “Its hard to explain how good of a scorer he is, the only enemy Mark has is himself.”