KIRKLAND, Wash. – Northwest U.’s Greg George missed a put back shot with 2 seconds remaining as #22 Evergreen State College held on for a 89-88 Cascade Conference win tonight.

 

In a game that would 17 ties and 24 lead changes, Evergreen State would lead 11-10 with 14:58 left in the first half. NU’s Greg George would put NU up 12-11 on his jumper but two free throws by ESC’s Nick Moore would give the lead back to the Geoducks, 13-12 (13:05). No team could gain the upper hand as the first half would go back and forth until Evergreen’s Michael Ward would give his team the lead, 43-38 with 2:29 remaining until halftime. Greg George’s offensive tip-in would end the scoring and pull NU to within one point, 43-42, with 1:14 to go as the half would end with ESC holding on to the slim, one point margin.

 

The second half was more of the same as the game would flow back and forth once again. Jose Feliciano’s jumper with 16:50 left in the game would give ESC a 54-51 lead. Two free throws by Northwest’s Blake Solomon would pull NU to within one point, 62-61. Then both teams would hit a cold spell as neither team would score a point for the next two minutes until NU’s Jason Waltman would end the scoring drought with his offensive tip-in to give NU the temporary lead at the 10:59 mark. Six seconds later, Nate Menefee would put the Geoducks back into the lead with his jumper. More of the same would follow as the lead would change hands until Greg Peters two free throws would give NU a four point lead, 81-77, with 4:35 to go in the contest. But then the bi-valves from Olympia would go on an 8-0 run to take an 85-81 lead as ESC’s Michael Ward would tip the ball in with 2:23 remaining. With the score 87-86 Evergreen, the Eagles with the ball, ESC would force a turnover as Ward would steal the ball only to see NU’s freshman guard, Rich Skillman steal it right back and score on a drive to the basket giving NU a 88-87 lead with 41 seconds left. Evergreen’s Julio Feliciano missed his jumper but Nate Menefee grabbed the offensive rebound and found Feliciano for a 12 foot jumper near the top of the key with 10.5 seconds to go in the game. After a NU timeout, Eddie Coulson’s driving shot would miss, but George would grab the rebound only to see his shot miss the mark as ESC’s Feliciano grabbed the rebound as the buzzer sounded.

 

Four Northwest U. (11-13, 5-10 CCC) players were in double figures led by junior Blake Solomon (Kent, Wash.) who finished with 18 points; Rich Skillman (Fresh., Everson, Wash.) and sophomore Greg George (Seattle, Wash.) each scored 18 and senior guard Eddie Coulson (N. Las Vegas, Nev.) dropped in 16 points for the Eagles. NU shot 50.8% from 2-point field goal range and 46.7% from the 3-point line.    

"It was a tough loss for our young men who played so hard tonight," stated NU head coach John Van Dyke following the game, "but I'm very proud of their effort and we gave a very good Evergreen State team all they could handle tonight. We have to re-group and get ready for another tough game with Northwest Christian on Friday night."
        

Evergreen State (15-7, 11-4 CCC) also had four players in double figures. Junior Nate Menefee (Tacoma, Wash.) scored a game high 23 points and grabbed 7 rebounds; senior Nick Moore (Graham, Wash.) scored 19 points; Michael Ward (Sr., Kansas City, MO.) dropped in 18 points; and Julio Feliciano (Jr., Tacoma, Wash.) contributed 12 points for the Geoducks. ESC shot 51.5% from  2-point range and was held to 28% shooting from beyond the 3-point arc (4 for 14). The Geoducks out rebounded NU 33-31 which included 11 offensive rebounds.

 

Northwest U. and Evergreen State both head to Eugene, Oregon to take on Northwest Christian University this weekend. NU plays NCU at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and ESC follows up with their game with NCU on Saturday at the same time.