BY JULIA SANDERSON, Staff Reporter

The Central Washington University men’s basketball team will take on Alaska Anchorage and the Alaska Nanooks this coming week in Nicholson Pavilion.

First up they will face Alaska Anchorage at 7 p.m. on Thursday, followed by the Alaska Nanooks Saturday at 7 p.m.

This will be the second time this year that the Wildcats have played both the Alaska teams.

“We split earlier in the season, we would like to get both this week,” head coach Greg Sparling said.

Central beat Alaska Anchorage 95-88, but lost to Fairbanks in overtime 84-80.

Earlier in the season when they played Alaska Anchorage, senior forward JB Pillard led all scorers with 23 points. Senior guard Mark McLaughlin was close behind with 22 points and passed the 1,000 points scored mark.

In their last game against Alaska Fairbanks, the Nanooks led 42-31 going into the half. However, they came out strong for the second half and outscored Fairbanks 40-29, but ended up losing in overtime. The Wildcats also outrebounded the Nanooks 35-30 in that game.

“Really want to beat Fairbanks since we lost a tough overtime game up there earlier this season,” McLaughlin said.

Central is currently 11-9 overall and 7-5 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.

Alaska Anchorage is 13-11 overall and 6-7 in GNAC play. Alaska Fairbanks is 13-8 overall and 8-5 in the GNAC.

“I’m really excited for these games, we have a chance to really separate ourselves from some of the teams that we are close with in the standings,” McLaughlin said.

All three teams are trying to move up in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference standings.

“They are big games because we are all battling for the third spot in the GNAC and are all tied for the spot,” sophomore guard Joey Roppo said.

“Both teams are very good and well coached so we will have to have great practices all week to come out and play great basketball,” McLaughlin said.

The Wildcats believe that they have a good chance at winning both games.

“We are very confident,” Roppo said. “We won our last game against St. Martins this past weekend. We are going to prepare like any other game and come out strong this next week.”

It is a big week for the Wildcats, and they will need to be playing some great basketball in order to advance in the GNAC standings.

They are looking forward to playing at home.

“Big week, it’s nice to be back home and play in front of our home crowd.” head coach Greg Sparling said. “Hopefully everyone comes out and supports us.”