Ahmaad Cook led NU wtih 15 points.
Northwest Drops Walla Walla
COLLEGE PLACE, Wash. - The Northwest University Eagles began a two game series with Walla Walla University this afternoon and came away with a 68-50 victory in College Place, Wash.
In the first half, the Eagles broke out to an early 10 point, 13-3 lead as Ahmaad Cook buried a jumper and Jason Waltman scored in the paint. With 8:14 left in the half, NU would lead 20-7 on Michael Greene's short jumper in the lane and the NU lead would grow to 16 points, 26-10 at the 5:39 mark as senior Jordan Call sank two free throws. Cook would bury a 3-pointer with 1:42 left in the period to swell the lead to 31-14 as NU would take a 33-18 advantage into the locker room.
Northwest's largest lead of the game would come early in the second half as Jordan Call would drop in two straight field goals to make it 37-19 with 18:13 left on the clock. The closest WWU would come would be at the 14:22 mark when Taylor Lewis would hit a shot to pull the Wolves to within 13, but that would be the closest Walla Walla would get as Ahmaad Cook's free throws 2 minutes later would put NU up 18 points, 45-27 as they would cruise to their fifth straight win of the season.
Senior Guard Ahmaad Cook led Northwest (5-0) with 15 points while teammate Jordan Call dropped in 14 points and Jason Waltman added 11 points and 6 rebounds for the Eagles. NU shot 49% for the game, but managed only 21% from beyond the 3-point arc.
Walla Walla (0-5) was led by Mark Moore's 15 points and Andrew Bailey scored a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds for the Wolves. WWU was held to 39% shooting on the night and made 27% of their 3-point attempts. WWU held a 32-28 rebounding margin.
"I feel we're capable of playing much better than what we showed today," commented Eagle coach, John Van Dyke. "It wasn't pretty, but the team managed to get the victory and we caught some glimpses of positive play. We'll have an opportunity to come back tomorrow and try to improve upon our effort today."
The two teams resume play again tomorrow night when they meet at 7 p.m.