bBen Voogd led the Beacons wih 23 points and added eight rebounds against the Cavaliers.
Beacons Rally for Cavalier Conquest
BOX SCORE
PORTLAND, Ore. –Taking advantage of second chances, Northwest Christian eked out an 81-75 win against Concordia after trailing at the half in Cascade Collegiate Conference men’s basketball action on Saturday night.
With the result, NCU improved to 12-15 on the season with an 8-7 record in the CCC while Concordia dropped to 15-10 overall and 5-9 in the league. With two weeks to play in the regular season, NCU sits in sixth place in the league standings with CU right behind in seventh place. The top eight teams earn a bid into the CCC postseason tournament.
Concordia will return to action on Feb. 12 by traveling to Northwest University while NCU will host College of Idaho. Both games are slated for a 7:30 p.m. tip
Concordia held the lead for the majority of the first half, going up by as many as seven with the score 28-21 following an Alex Tiefentlaher layup with 3:41 remaining. From there, the Beacons countered with six straight points, punctuated by an Andrew Miller three to cut the lead to a single point.
The two teams traded treys in the waning moments of the period with CU’s Dustin Hiebert drilling a long-range shot with 1:31 left and NCU’s Quentin Guidry responding with his own strike with 34 seconds remaining for the final score of the half to cut the CU edge to 37-34.
The Beacons, aided by 21 second-half points in the game, came out of the break with an 8-2 burst to reclaim the lead. A Tiefenthaler jumper would later tie the game at 44-44 before Concordia was able to create a three-point gap with the score 52-49 with 13:33 left.
NCU’s Brent McKee countered with a jumper of his own and teammate Ben Voogd connected on a three the next time down the court to give NCU is slim lead. Another Tiefenthaler bucket tied the battle at 54-54, but the basket would prove to be the closest the Cavs would get down the stretch as the Beacons pulled away with a 14-5 run and eventually settling for the six-point victory.
Voogd and Tiefenthaler tied for the game-high with 23 points each. Joining Voogd in double figures for the Beacons were Erik Quick-Warner with 15, Guidry with 13 and Cameron Marshall with 11.
Jourden Sweeney finished with 22 points after hitting on 10 of 16 attempts and Sergio Rosario ended with 12 points with a pair of threes to give CU three players in double figures.
After outrebounding NCU in the first half 15-13, the Beacons hammered the boards in the second, nearly doubling the Cavalier total 25-14 to finish with a 38-29 advantage in that department.
As a result, NCU scored 21 second-chance points compared to just seven for the home side.
Both teams shot the ball well as the Cavaliers hit 32 of 63 for a 50.8 percent clip and NCU making 33 of 68 for a 48.5 percent exchange.