Senior Jordan Whittenburg hit 6 treys and scored a season-high 24 points for Northwest Christian.
EUGENE, Ore. – The Northwest Christian University men’s basketball team picked up their first ever victory against The College of Idaho on Friday night, grabbing a 64-59 win. Jordan Whittenburg hit six three-pointers and scored a season-high 24 points to lead the Beacons.
“It’s always good to beat someone you’ve never defeated before,” said Head Coach Dave Lipp. “We really played some great defense down the stretch, and that helped us to come back.”
The Beacons once again trailed at half-time, something they have become very accustomed to this season. The ‘Yotes led 31-29 at the break. The Beacons came out quickly in the second half as Whittenburg drained a triple on the opening possession, giving NCU a brief 32-31 lead. Kelvin Potts answered with his own trey on the other end and The College of Idaho went back ahead, a lead that they would keep until the 13-minute mark.
This time a Dylan Perry jumper gave NCU a lead and after trading buckets, the Beacons put together a small run to take a 53-45 advantage with eight minutes to play. The Coyotes climbed as close as two points within the final two minutes, but the Beacons were able to close out the victory at the free-throw line, where they shot 75% in the game.
The College of Idaho (16-14, 12-8) was led by Potts and Craig McGee, who both scored 13. McGee, who came in averaging 16.2 ppg, was held to just one second-half field goal and four points. Coach Lipp said, “One of our keys tonight was to just down McGee, their leading scorer and rebounder, and we did a really good job of that in the second half.
The Beacons had just two players in double-figures including 15 and seven rebounds off the bench from Perry. Whittenburg shot 6-for-11 from three-point range on the night and was a perfect 6-for-6 at the charity stripe, adding three assists and three rebounds. “Jordan made some big shots for us tonight,” said Lipp. “It’s important for him to do that, we need him to be consistent.”
Whittenburg said, “It always feels good when they go in. I’m a streaky shooter and it was nice to be able to contribute to the victory.”
Northwest Christian moves to 16-12 overall and is guaranteed to finish at least .500 in conference with a 10-9 mark heading into the season finale tomorrow evening against #9 Eastern Oregon. The Beacons are locked into sixth-place in the conference and the #6 seed for the upcoming CCC tournament. They will travel to face whoever lands in the #3 spot after tomorrow’s contests. Currently, Eastern Oregon (15-4) holds a 1 game lead for the CCC title over both Oregon Tech and Warner Pacific (15-6). Should the Beacons knock off EOU tomorrow night while both OIT and Warner are victorious, then there will be tri-champions in the conference and the playoff seeds will come down to a series of tiebreaks.