Central’s men’s basketball team essentially road a seesaw all season with the way things turned out at the GNAC tournament.

The Wildcats suffered an agonizing defeat to Seattle Pacific University (SPU) in the first round of tournament play, 65-69.

With the game tied 65-65, SPU hit a 3-pointer with .6 seconds left on the clock, giving Central just enough time to get a shot off to tie it.

However, someone from Central’s bench called a timeout when it didn’t have one. For this, the Wildcats received a technical, sending SPU to the line to attempt a single shot. SPU hit the lone free throw, ending the Wildcats’ chances for overtime and their season.

Heartbreak would be the best cliché to describe this season for the Wildcats.

It’s easy to look back on the heartaches, but there were some flashes of a championship-caliber team throughout the season:

High No. 1: Seniority

Central came into its 2015-16 campaign with five seniors, including three returning starters. The Wildcats big three were senior forward Joseph Stroud and senior guards Joey Roppo and Gary Jacobs.

They were seemingly perfect combination of players on a basketball team: Stroud could do everything as a big man; play defense, score and rebound. Jacobs does a little bit of everything to help a team succeed: he gets rebounds, scores points, makes hustle plays and can guard almost anyone. Roppo was the team’s sharpshooter, as he was the most dangerous from beyond the arc.

Even with senior laden team, the Wildcats were picked to finish fifth in the GNAC before the season began.

“I think that’s highly disrespectful, to call us fifth. I know we didn’t have a spectacular tournament last year, but fifth, I don’t take too kindly to that,” Stroud said before the season began.

Low No. 1: Couldn’t turn off the northern lights

The Wildcats opened up GNAC play against the Alaska schools early in the season. Central was oozing with confidence after winning its first four games of the season with sizable margins of victory.

Central got a rude awakening traveling to Alaska, as they lost both games by an average margin of 32.5 points per game, missing out on the opportunity to tip off the season atop the GNAC standings.

High No. 2: Upsetting number three in the country

Luckily, Central had winter break to heal the wounds it received after the mauling it took from the Seawolves and Nanooks.

After coming back from break, the Wildcats faced off with Western Oregon University.

Central beat the Wolves 81-77 by way of its bench. Freshman guard Naim Ladd led the team in scoring with 17, and sophomore forward Drake Rademacher was second in scoring with 15.

Low No. 2: Not securing the second seed

Central had the opportunity late in the season to snag the second seed in the GNAC tournament. The Wildcats just needed two wins out of the Alaska schools.

Central’s last two games were at home and the first came against the University of Alaska (UA).

The Wildcats failed to even give themselves a chance at the second seed in the GNAC, as they were run out of their own gym by UA, losing by 21 points.

“Their big guys kicked our big guys’ tails, their guards kicked our guards’ tails,” said head coach Greg Sparling after the loss to UA.

Low No. 3: Losing to a rival

It goes without saying that losing to your rival on the biggest stage of the year is probably the one that hurts the most.

Central lost to rival Western Washington University (WWU) on ROOT Sports, 84-89. Yes, there was a questionable call at the end of the game and Central almost made an extraordinary comeback.

“It’s hard to come back from 21, it’s nuts,” Jacobs said. “You got to take that and just continue to improve.”

High No. 3: Winning on senior night

The University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) came into Central’s senior night with its own chance of taking the No. 2 seed heading into the GNAC tournament.

Central’s seniors had other plans as they beat UAA 88-81 in their final game of the season. Stroud led the team in scoring with 26 point on that night.