Boxscore

ELLENSBURG, Wash. - Jake Beitinger scored 10 of his 14 points in the second half and Chris Scott had a critical steal with less than three minutes left as Central Washington won a hard-fought battle with Northwest Nazarene 72-69 at Nicholson Pavilion.  Kendall Gielow led the Crusaders with a game-high 23 points.

The game was played within a 10-point spread at CWU never led by more than six and NNU, which missed 16 of its first 18 shots, was never ahead by more than four.

Tied at 65-65, CWU finally gained the edge on a basket by Chris Sprinker set up off a pass from Spevak with 4:08 remaining. Spevak then made one of two foul shots to give the Wildcats a three-point lead with 2:48.

Scott then made a clean steal as NNU was bringing the ball up court and fed to Matt Penoncello for a layup to put CWU ahead 70-65 with 2:35 left and the Wildcats were able to hold on for the win.

Each team placed three players in double figures. Joining Spevak and Beitinger in that group was Penoncello with 14 points. Scott had eight points, six assists and four steals.

Kendall Gielow led Northwest Nazarene with 23 points, including 14 in the second half. Joel Ryman had 13 and Adam Shildmyer netted 11. Brian Barkdoll led the Crusaders in both rebounds (10) and assists (5).

NNU made nine of 17 three-pointers and outrebounded Central 39-32, but the Wildcats had a 14-4 advantage in steals and six fewer turnovers (10-16).