EOU Dispatches Northwood to Reach Elite 8
Boxscore
POINT LOOKOUT, Mo. – Senior guard Kris Groce scored a game-high 24 points and the Eastern Oregon bench came up big for the second straight game as the ninth-seeded Mountaineers defeated eighth-seeded Northwood (Fla.) 82-66 in the second round of the NAIA Division II men’s basketball championships Friday evening.
EOU (25-7) moves on to Saturday’s 6 p.m. PDT quarterfinals vs. top-seeded and No. 1-ranked Oklahoma Wesleyan (32-2), which defeated Grand View (Iowa) 74-68 in Friday's late game. The Mountaineers are the lone Cascade Collegiate Conference representative remaining in the tournament; earlier Friday, defending national champion Oregon Tech and Evergreen were eliminated. Warner Pacific, the fourth entrant from the CCC, lost in the first round on Wednesday.
Groce, a transfer from Sacramento State in his first year with the Mounties, sank 8 of 11 shots from the floor, including 4 of 6 from beyond the three-point line, to lead an efficient Eastern Oregon attack. The Mounties shot better than 50 percent from the field in each half and 52 percent for the game. The Mounties were 8 of 19 from three-point range, including a pair of second-half bombs from reserve Thomas McCarthy, who had 10 second-half points.
The Mountaineers, making only the second national tournament appearance in program history, started quickly against the Rollie Massimino-coached Seahawks, who won The Sun Conference and were playing in their third consecutive NAIA Division II tournament. After falling behind 1-0, the only time it would trail the entire game, Groce rang up the first of his four first-half 3-pointers, and EOU was on its way. The Mountaineers eventually built leads of as many as 12 points in the opening period, taking a 41-29 advantage into halftime.
Jordan Gregg, who had a team-high 18 points in EOU’s opening-round win Wednesday, came off the bench again to help spark the Mountaineers. The 6-7 junior had 14 points on 5 of 7 shooting from the field in addition to hauling in a team-high seven rebounds. In two tournament games, Gregg has scored 32 points and pulled down 16 rebounds.
EOU’s bench outscored Northwood 32-6 two days after it outscored the King (Tenn.) reserves 38-16.
Northwood was led by DeSean White, who had a team-high 16 points, including 12 in the second half. Baree Ward had 15 for the Seahawks.
Northwood ended its season 27-6.