Northwest Holds Off Northwest Christian
KIRKLAND, WA – Northwest University held on for an 80-74 Cascade Conference victory over Northwest Christian College tonight to end a four game losing streak in Kirkland.
Things didn’t look good for the Eagles as Northwest Christian jumped out to an early 13-5 lead on Brent McKee’s jumper at the 14:41 mark, but a free throw by NU’s Eddie Coulson would tie the score at 13 a piece with 12:06 left in the half. The Eagles would then go on a 9-0 run to increase their lead to 22-13 with 8:49 left. The two teams would battle to an 18-18 tie the remainder of the half as Northwest U. would take a 40-31 lead at the break.
Northwest U. would come out of the locker room and go on an 11-2 run to go up on the Beacons, 51-35 with 16:21 left in the contest. A 3-pointer by NU’s Pat Mattson would give the Eagles a 14 point lead (60-46) at the 9:30 mark and another trey by junior Chase Van Cleave would put Northwest up 66-50 with 7:44 left in the game. With NU up 71-56, Northwest Christian would begin a come back with the help of their pressure defense and go on a 12-4 run to pull to within seven (75-68) with 1:36 remaining. A tip in by Andrew Miller would get the Beacons closer at 76-70 with 1:05 left, but NU would go 4 for 4 from the free throw line to pull out the close victory and end their four game skid.
Derek Miller (Jr., Cheney, WA) led Northwest U. (12-13, 8-8 CCC) with 19 points as he shot 50% from the 3-point line (5 for 10). Four other Eagles scored in double figures tonight including Eddie Coulson (Jr., N. Las Vegas, NV) with 15, Pat Mattson (Sr., Everett, WA) with 14 points and 7 assists, freshman Greg George (Seattle, WA) with 13 points, and junior Chase Van Cleave (Puyallup, WA) finished with 12 points for NU. The Eagles shot 61.5% in the first half, 40% for the second stanza and 50.9% for the game.
Northwest Christian (9-16, 6-9) was led by Josh Jarrett’s (Sr., Richland, WA) 27 points and 7 rebounds. Junior Andrew Williams (Eugene, OR) scored 14 points and Michael Van Loon ( Jr., Yoncalla, OR) dropped in 12 points and had 7 rebounds for the Beacons. NCC out rebounded NU, 37-34, including 15 offensive rebounds. The Beacons shot 84% from the free throw line on 16 for 19 shooting.
Northwest U. hosts Eastern Oregon next Friday night, February 15 in Kirkland while Northwest Christian travels south to Olympia for a match up with The Evergreen State College tomorrow night at 7:30 p.m. before heading back to Eugene.