Eagles Cold Second Half Spells Defeat
WALLA WALLA, Wash. - Cold shooting in the second half led to a Northwest University loss to Lewis-Clark State tonight, 75-58, in the Walla Walla University tournament.
After spotting Lewis-Clark State a 19-6 first half lead, Northwest got back into the game as their offense finally got going. Blake Solomon's 3-pointer from 29 feet at the end of the half brought the Eagles to within 2 points at the halftime break, 33-31. NU shot 50% from 2 point range and 56% from the 3 point line (5 for 9).
The Eagles (1-3) kept things close in the second half pulling to within two at 46-44, but then a combination of cold NU shooting, turnovers and tough LCSC defense would see the Warriors slowly pull away to earn the victory. NU cooled to 32% shooting in the second half and turned the ball over 21 times to LCSC's 18 for the game. LCSC out rebounded NU 27-23. Lewis-Clark shot 56% for the game and 41% from 3 point range.
Junior point guard Blake Solomon (Kent, Wash.) finished with 17 points and 4 assists to lead Northwest. Freshman guard Rich Skillman (Everson, Wash.) had a career high 15 points on 50% shooting and was on-target with 60% of his 3 point attempts (3 for 5).
Lewis-Clark State (3-1) was led by their three transfers: 6-3 guard Curtis Allen's (Oral Roberts) game high 20 points and 6 rebounds. 6-10 Drew Arnold (Weber State) dropped in 12 points and 6-8 forward transfer Tanner McIntosh (Eastern Oregon) scored 11 points for the victors.