Rich Skillman had a game high 6 steals.
Eagles Defeat Pacific, Win 10th Straight
FOREST GROVE, Ore. - The 11th ranked Northwest University Eagles stretched their win streak to ten straight as they defeated Pacific University, 82-63, tonight in a non-conference game. Seniors Ahmaad Cook, Jordan Call and Tyler Mendezona combined for 55 points while shooting 75% (21-28) including 78.5% from the 3-point line (11-14) to lead the Eagles to a 10-0 record.
Northwest blistered the nets for 62.5% shooting in the first half as they took a 45-29 lead at halftime. With the score tied at 13-13 with 13:48 to go, Jordan Call's 3-pointer put the Eagles ahead 16-13 followed 21 seconds later by Ahmaad Cook's trey to give NU the lead 16-13. Tyler Mendezona hit one of his four 3-pointers to cap off an Eagle 9-0 run to increase their lead to 20-13 at the 9:50 mark. With 8:14 on the clock and Northwest up by four, 22-18, Mendezona would hit two straight 3's to put NU up 28-18. A steal and assist by Ahmaad Cook would lead to a layup by Jordan call as NU would go up 12 points, 30-18 with 6:58 left until the break. Cook would then score five straight points at the 2:25 mark to make it 42-27. Jason Waltman would end the scoring for the Eagles and the half with his short jumper with 5 seconds on the clock for the 45-29 lead.
In the second half, Pacific would battle back to within 12 points on two free throws, but Michael Greene would hit a jumper off a Call assist (18:15) and then Greene would repay the favor with his assist to Call for a trey to grow the NU lead to 17 points, 50-33. Pacific would refuse to go away and with 4:02 left on the clock, David Berney would score a driving layup to cut the NU lead to 15, 74-59, but Northwest would then go on a 7-0 run capped off by two Rich Skillman free throws to increase the lead to 23 points, 82-59 as the Eagles would post their tenth straight win of the season.
Ahmaad Cook led the way for Northwest U. (10-0, 1-0 CCC) with 20 points, followed by Tyler Mendezona's 18 and Jordan Call's 17 points. Rich Skillman and Jason Waltman added 8 points each and Skillman added a game high 6 steals on the night. NU out rebounded Pacific 28-23, shooting 55% for the night and 52% from the 3-point line.
Pacific (4-2) was led by David Berney's 15 points while teammate Colin Wester added 13 points for the Boxers. Leland Devlin added 9 points for Pacific who shot 50% from 2-point (21-42) and 3-point range (6-12).
"Right now, we're enjoying success because the team is playing well together and unselfishly," said John Van Dyke, Eagle head coach. "We beat a very good Pacific team tonight. I hope we continue to play together because it results in good defense and high percentage shots on offense. It's enjoyable coaching this group which has solid senior leadership."
Northwest U. returns home to Kirkland and will host Pacific Lutheran in another non-conference game on Sat., Dec. 10 before resuming conference play.