Eagles Open Hoop Season with Big Win
KIRKLAND, Wash. - The Northwest University Eagles opened their 2011-12 basketball season with a convincing 88-59 win over Vancouver Island University (BC) tonight in a non-conference game.
With VIU taking an early 4-2 lead, the Eagles would go on a 13-2 run capped off by a layup by Nemanja Grujicic off an assist by Ahmaad Cook to lead 15-4. A Cook 3-pointer would put the Eagles up 20-9 as NU would hit 54% of their shots in the first half. NU would take a 37-26 lead into the locker room at halftime.
The Eagles would slowly pull away in the second half as Jordan Call's 3-pointer with 17:32 to go in the game would increase NU's lead to 16, 47-31. Michael Greene's short jumper would make it, 53-35 and less than a minute later, a Greene lay in would grow the Eagles lead to 22 points, 57-35. A Rich Skillman lay in and another one by Greene would swell the NU lead to 72-49 as the Eagles would cruise to their first win of the season.
Northwest U. (1-0) was led by sophomore Michael Greene (Bellingham, Wash.) who finished with 20 points and 9 rebounds. Senior Jordan Call (Kirkland, Wash.) scored 18 points, while senior guard Ahmaad Cook (Los Angeles, Calif.) contributed 14 points and added 7 assists for the Eagles. NU shot 53% for the night, 42% from the 3-point line. Northwest’s defense held Vancouver Island to 32% shooting on the night.
Vancouver Island (0-4), the defending BCCAA champion was led by American Brandon Jones (Portland, Ore.) with 17 points while teammate Jacob Thom added 13 points. Another American, Richard Townsend Gant (Portland, Ore.) scored 7 points and grabbed 8 rebounds for the Mariners from British Columbia. NU outrebounded VIU 49-30.
"We went through the normal first game jitters early as we might expect," commented John Van Dyke, Eagle head coach, "but the guys got into a rhythm and showed some moments of good team play tonight. It's a good starting point for the season and I'm sure we'll continue to improve. We have a lot of new players who are learning to play together."
Northwest will continue with Canadian opponents as they head north of the border next weekend to play in the Honda Classic, hosted by the University of Fraser Valley, a CIS level team in B.C. The Eagles will open play with Thompson Rivers from Kamloops in their first game on Oct. 28, at 6 p.m. in Abbotsford, BC, and then face tourney host, UFV, on the 29th at 7 p.m.