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ELLENSBURG, Wash. – Central Washington's first half shooting performance was enough to send the Wildcats passed the visiting Montana State Billings men's basketball team in the first round of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Tournament Monday night at Nicholson Pavilion in Ellensburg.

 

The Yellowjackets finished the 2010-11 season with the loss, while the No.1 seeded Wildcats will play host to the lowest remaining seed in the tournament Wednesday night.

 

“This was tough loss to end our season,” said head coach George Pfeifer. “I was proud of our guys for not giving up, but we dug ourselves into an early hole and credit Central Washington for their performance tonight. We've learned a lot this season and we'll hope to learn from those lessons and build from them as we head into next year.”

 

The Yellowjackets were paced by 14 points from Robert Mayes who shot 6-of-15 from the field and went 2-for-3 from the line. Raason Young chipped in 12 points and four rebounds, while DeAndre Chambers scored 11 and had a team-high six boards and five assists.

 

Emery Henning had seven points and three boards, and Jaxon Myaer finished the game with eight points and four assists. Tyler Barnes also had a balanced game with six points and five rebounds for the Jackets.

 

MSUB shot 41.5 percent from the floor as a team and were just three of nine from the arc. The Wildcats conversely, shot 45.8 percent from the field and were a perfect 19-of-19 from the free throw line.

 

CWU was led by Jamar Berry's 19 points and four boards as the first team all-conference member and newcomer of the year shot 6-for-15 from the field. His performance was coupled by 12 points from Cody Gibler, 11 points from Jody Johnson and 10 points from Drew Harris. Johnson and Humberto Perez led the Wildcats with seven rebounds apiece.

 

The first half started out poorly for both sides as nerves played a large role with both teams combining for five turnovers, four for the Wildcats, in the first four minutes of the game.

 

The two squads went back and forth for a short time as Mayes hit a jumper on the left side to give the Yellowjackets a one point advantage, 7-6, at the 15:31 mark.

 

From that point on the Wildcats took over, using a 9-0 run to break the game open and build a 15-7 advantage. The Wildcats would build their largest lead of 17 points at the 3:02 mark left in the half.

 

A flurry of fast break points led to a 15 point advantage for the top-ranked Wildcats going into the break, leading 39-24 at intermission.

 

The Jackets shot just 30.0 percent (9-30) from the floor in the opening frame, going just 1-for-5 from the arc. CWU outscored the Jackets from the bench 20-1 in the half and forced MSUB into eight turnovers, while committing nine.

 

The Wildcats also outscored the Jackets in the paint during the first half with an 18-12 advantage, and hit the boards with 18 rebounds, while MSUB had 15 rebounds. CWU also shot 53.8 percent from the floor and converted on all eight of their attempts in the half.

 

In the second half, MSUB came out with a spark as Myaer came down the floor and hit a wide open try from the far side, and then Barnes knocked down another triple the next time down the floor to cut into the Wildcat's deficit.

 

After another tough shot by Myaer at the top of the key dropped in for a deuce, the Yellowjackets pulled within 10, 45-35. But again the Wildcats stretched the lead out with baby runs to stretch their lead back out to as many as 19, 58-39.

 

Things wouldn't get better for the Yellowjackets as they went into a scoring drought that saw them not score a point for over three minutes. Chambers converted free throws at the 8:35 mark and MSUB did not score again until the 5:31 mark with another pair of free throws by Chambers.

 

In the midst of that scoring drought, the Yellowjackets were held without a field goal for five minutes and 11 seconds. Mayes hit a jumper at the 9:23 mark and the Jackets weren't able to get another bucket until 4:12 remained on the clock.

 

The Jackets didn't give up though as they fought until the final buzzer sounded, scoring late buckets inside the paint and with mid-range jumpers from just outside the blocks.