SEATTLE, Wash. – The University of Minesota Crookston would stand toe-to-toe with Central Washington University in the second half but a sloppy first half would guide the Wildcats to a 65-52 win over UMC in their first regular-season game of the 2014-15 season. Friday's opening game of the Sodexo Tip-Off Classic at Brougham Pavilion in Seattle, Wash., was also the first official game of the Dan Weisse era at UMC. The Golden Eagles fall to 0-1 on the season. Central Washington improves to 1-0.

UMC was led on the game by eight points from Derrick Redd, Jr. (Jr., G, Menifee, Calif./Sports and Rec Management) and Tyler West, Jr. (Sr., G/F, Portland, Ore./Communications). West added six boards on the game.

Lucas Reller (Sr., G, Lead, S.D./Management) came off the bench for seven points, inclding two treys, while Jim Warmack (Fr., F/C, East Grand Forks, Minn.) also had seven points in his first collegiate game before fouling out. The Golden Eagles shot 15-of-44 from the field for 34.1 percent and were just 2--of-11 from beyond the arc and 20-of-31 from the charity stripe. They narrowed the gap on rebounding from the first half, but lost that battle 36-31.

Jordan Russell led the way for Central Washington with 17 points, while Joseph Stroud had 16 points and six boards and Gary Jacobs had 10 points. Central Washington shot 42.3 percent from the field and 35.0 percent from beyond the arc.

The Golden Eagles would keep it close early with the Wildcats leading 11-6 at the second media timeout at the 11:20 mark. However, Central Washington forced turnovers and was able to go on a 15-5 run to take a 26-11 lead at the 7:12 mark led by six points from Jordan Russell. The Golden Eagles would be able to cut within 12 points (30-18) as Tomas Parker had a put-back for UMC at the 1:13 mark. The score would be 32-20 at the break with Central Washington leading.

Warmack and Giorgi Koguashvili (Sr., G, Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia/Agricultural Business) came off the bench to lead the Golden Eagles with four points apiece. Minnesota Crookston was just 7-of-21 from the field for 33.0 percent. They struggled on the charity stripe, connecting on just 6-of-12 attempts for 50 percent. UMC also struggled to hold on to the ball in the first half with 10 turnovers. They were out-rebounded 23-12 in the opening period. John Hughes (Jr., F, San Diego, Calif./Management) led the way with four boards.

The Wildcats were 13-of-31 from the field on the first half for 41.9 percent. They were 3-of-10 for 30 percent from beyond the arc. Russell came off the bench to lead Central Washington with six points. Joseph Stroud also came off the bench with six points, while Joey Roppo had five points.

The Golden Eagles would open up the second half from Reller to get within three at 32-23. A drive and lay-in from Redd would get UMC within seven at 32-25. UMC would continue a 7-1 run as West drained two free throws to cut the lead to 33-27 with just under 17 minutes left in the game. Central would finally hit their first field goal of the second half shortly after to make it 35-27. A Russell three for Central Washington would get the Wildcats back out to an 11-point advantage at the first media timeout.

Warmack would hit 1-of-2 and Redd would get a lay-in off a West offensive rebound to get UMC back to within single digits at 38-30. However, Russell would drain a trey from the top of the circle to make it 41-30. Tim Lubke (Sr., G, St. Paul, Minn./Sports and Rec Management) would hit a turnaround jumper to get the lead back down to single dits at 41-32.

The Golden Eagles would close back to within seven points at 44-37 with a Reller trey and two Lubke free throws.

Central Washington would then go on a 5-0 run to get out to an 12-point lead at the 11:00 mark. The Wildcats would extend their lead to 15 at 54-39 as Jacobs hit a trey.

The Golden Eagles would scratch and claw back to within single digits as West hit two free throws to make it 56-47 with 4:17 remaining. However, a Russell trey would squash it as Central Washington got out to a 59-47 lead with 3:47 left.

Central Washington would hang on for the 65-52 win. The Golden Eagles will play game two of the Sodexo Tip-Off Classic against host Seattle Pacific University at 9 p.m. C.T. at the Brougham Pavilion.


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The University of Minnesota, Crookston is an NCAA Division II Institution and a member of the Northern
Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC). The Golden Eagle Equestrian team is a member of the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA).