CWU men’s basketball fell to Western Washington University (WWU) on Tuesday Feb. 8 by a score of 97-86.

CWU (12-6) kept the game close through the first six minutes of the game, at one point taking an 11-10 lead off of a three pointer from senior guard Xavier Smith. However, WWU would then go on a 12-0 run in the next three minutes to give them a 11 point lead. 

After a dunk and free throw made by senior forward Marqus Gilson which cut the lead to eight, WWU went on another 7-3 run which brought their lead up to 31-17. 

CWU would outscore WWU 20-14 for the rest of the half, but WWU still led 44-37 going into halftime. 

CWU would start the second half scoring nine of the first 15 points to cut the WWU lead to three. However, WWU would then go on a 27-16 run to regain the 11 point advantage they had earlier in the game, making the score 73-62. 

Over the final 10 minutes of the game, WWU outscored CWU 26-24 to close out the game 97-86. 

Smith led CWU in scoring with 19 points off of 8-19 shooting from the field and 2-4 from three point range. He also had six rebounds and had one steal. 

As a team CWU shot 34-68 (50%) from the field but only 9-19 (47.4%) from three. The defense struggled, allowing WWU to convert on 40-74 shooting (54.1%) and allowing 10-19 (52.6%) from three.  

While CWU forced 14 WWU turnovers, they were only able to convert 13 points off of them and allowed WWU to outscore them in the paint 48-44. CWU was also out rebounded 46-23. 

CWU has two more home games coming up this week, one on Thursday Feb.10 against Alaska Fairbanks at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday Feb.12 against Alaska Anchorage at 6:15 p.m.