ROCKLIN, Calif.. – The Northwest Christian University men’s basketball team cruised to victory on Saturday over host William Jessup, 76-65 in the final game of the Bill Holtz Warrior Classic. NCU shot 50% in the game while holding the Warriors to just 38% shooting.
After trading buckets on the first few possessions, NCU jumped out to a 17-5 lead as they hit five straight three-pointers including two from Brian Hampton and two from Trevor Parker. The Beacon advantage grew to as many as 17 points and NCU held a 40-27 lead at the intermission after going 15-for-25 from the floor in the first half.
The Warriors could get no closer than eight points the rest of the way as the Beacons sailed in for the win. Head Coach Corey Anderson said, “We got in flow with our offense early in tonight’s game. That gave our defense the confidence to play the way that we can. We hit some big buckets and it was a solid team victory tonight.”
NCU (2-2) was led by Parker, shooting 9-for-12 from the field including a 4-for-5 night from three-point range for a total of 22 points. Hampton added 15 points and a team-high three assists. Mitch Wilson scored 13 and Tyler Fox came off the bench to score 12. NCU out-rebounded the Warriors 38-26 in the game.
Brody McGowan was named to the all-tournament team, fueled in large part to his Friday night double-double. He scored just two points against William Jessup in limited action.
William Jessup (2-3) was led by Marqus Crawford with a game-high 23 points and four steals. Anthony Anderson added 18 points and a team-high six rebounds.
On Friday, NCU trailed by as many as 19 points in the second half but came back strong before falling, 57-53 to Cal State Maritime.
Head Coach Corey Anderson said, "Maritime forced us into 28 turnovers. They are a very disciplined team that was able expose our youth. While I'm proud that we were able to battle back in the second half, we dug ourselves into too deep a hole to come back from. None of us like to lose but this will be a good experience for us to learn from."
The Beacons trailed buzzer-to-buzzer on Friday after falling behind early, 22-5. The Beacons got as close as ten during the first half before taking a 34-20 deficit into the second half.
The Keelhaulers continue to control the game after the break, and were ahead 43-24 with 13:42 to play. Buckets by Greg Shepard and Trevor Parker on the Beacons next two possessions sparked an 11-2 run that made it 45-35 with 8:44 remaining,
The teams traded baskets over the next three minutes and CSUM found themselves ahead 53-39 with 5:21 remaining. The Beacons, however, were not finished. Travis Pacos hit a three-pointer and a pair-of-free throws on back-to-back trips up the court and NCU was within nine points. The Haulers scored again, and the Beacons were trailing 57-46 with 1:17 to play.
NCU then had one final burst, closing out the game on a 7-0 run, capped off by back to back layups by Brody McGowan.
The Beacons (1-2) were led by freshman Pacos, scoring 14 points off the bench. McGowan added a double-double, scoring ten points to go with eleven rebounds. NCU shot 33% in the game and had 28 turnovers, but did out-rebound CSUM, 42-34.
Maritime (3-1) was led by Isaiah Moore with 12 points and nine rebounds. Danile St. Hubert scored eight points off the bench.
The Beacons will be back in action on Tuesday night, traveling to face Lewis & Clark College at 8:00 pm.