Northwest's Michael Greene recorded a double-double for the night.
Eagles Pull Away from Evergreen, Remain Unbeaten
KIRKLAND, Wash. - The Northwest University Eagles came back from an early first half deficit to pull away from Evergreen for a 93-56 conference win and remain unbeaten at 9-0.
Evergreen led early 21-15 as Marice Tolliver's 9 points and 2 assists keyed the Geoducks attack. But Northwest would slowly get back into the game and Jordan Call's jumper with 10:09 on the clock would pull NU to within one, 21-20. Call would then tie the game at 23-23 with his 3-pointer off an assist from Ahmaad Cook with 8:19 to go in the first half. Michael Greene would hit a trey and tip in his own miss to make it 32-28 with 4:56 on the clock. Tyler Mendezona would find Cook for another 3-pointer to put NU up 11 points, 39-28 at the 1:50 mark. After an Evergreen turnover, Call would hit a three to push the Eagle lead to 14, 42-28, with 1:29 to go. Mike DeRosier would hit a three for ESC and Tyler Mendezona would answer with another trey as the half ended with NU up, 45-31.
The Eagles would come out hot in the second half and out score Evergreen 13-3, topped off by a back door cut and layup by Mendezona off a nifty assist from Rich Skillman. Northwest would maintain their lead throughout as their depth would slowly grow the lead to 30 points, 76-45, on freshman Cody Shackett's 3-pointer with 10:03 to go in the game. The Geoducks were playing with eight players as key starters, Larry Green and Mikey Hope are out with injuries. Nemanja Grujicic would end the scoring for the night making 3 of 4 free throws for the final points of the game.
Northwest U. (9-0, 1-0 CCC) had four players in double figures led by senior Jordan Call's 18 points and 7 assists. Sophomore Michael Greene scored 17 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for a double-double, Ahmaad Cook scored 16 points and handed out 5 assists and senior Jason Waltman added 13 points and 6 rebounds for the Eagles. Northwest totaled 28 assists on the night and out rebounded Evergreen 58-33 including 21 offensive rebounds. The Eagles shot 44% on the night, 39% from the 3-point line.
Marice Tolliver led Evergreen (1-8, 0-1 CCC) with his game high 21 points along with 7 rebounds. Tyrell Stephens contributed 9 points and Travis Wagner added 7 points for the Geoducks who shot 31% from 2-point range and 27% from beyond the 3-point arc.
"Our guys are really looking for their teammates on offense," said John Van Dyke, Eagle head coach, "and the 28 assists really showed it. We also focused on rebounding this week in practice and 58 rebounds shows the team is really carrying over what we worked on during the week. Nemanja's (Grujicic) 14 rebounds is a nice reward for a good week of practice."
Northwest will now travel to Forest Grove next week to play Pacific University of the Northwest Conference in a non-conference game on Dec. 6 and then return home for a Dec. 10 non-conference game with Pacific Lutheran. Evergreen will host Puget Sound on Dec. 7 in Olympia at 8 p.m.