PORTLAND, Ore.—In front of a raucous crowd, the Concordia and No. 8 Warner Pacific men’s basketball teams played an instant classic with the visiting Knights nipping the Cavs in overtime, 90-89 on Saturday.

Fanning the flames of the frenzied crowd, both teams seesawed throughout a tight second half that saw 13 lead changed, eight ties and no lead bigger than five points.

Concordia (12-9, 4-6 CCC) had the lead late in the second half, taking an 80-78 advantage into the final minute of regulation. The Cavs then got possession again with 42 seconds remaining, looking to make it to a two possession game. However, a back-breaking steal from the Knights’ William Sharp gave Warner Pacific (17-4, 9-1 CCC) the ball back with 24 seconds left.

Once with the ball, Sharp drove the lane and found an open Stephen Harris in the paint. Harris stepped forward and shot, while colliding with the Cavs’ Drew Preuninger on the play. Both players appeared to have position, but the 50/50 foul call went Warner Pacific’s way, and Harris’ shot simultaneously dropped through the hoop.

Harris missed the ensuing free throw, though, giving Concordia the ball back with the score tied at 80-80 and 18 seconds remaining. The Cavs tried to find an open man for a last second shot, but the Knights’ defense prevented any penetration beyond the three-point line and the game went into overtime.

Once in overtime, the Knights’ scored seven in a row after the Cavs’ opened the extra period with a bucket. That gave them a small, but significant advantage at 87-82 with 3:13 left. More significantly, neither team hit a field goal for nearly three minutes after that. CU’s Kevan West finally broke the dry spell with a clutch three-pointer that brought the Cavs back within two at 88-86 with 26 seconds remaining.

Now within a single possession, the Cavs threw a full court press on the Knights, hoping for a big steal. No such luck came, though, and Sharp hit two huge free throws to push the Knights lead back up to four, making it a two possession game once again. West hit another big three-pointer on the next Cavalier possession, but it came with only three seconds remaining, giving Concordia little time to comeback. The Cavs again tried for a steal on the inbound, but couldn’t get it and were forced foul Harris again. Harris then purposefully missed the second of his two free throws so Concordia could only throw up a low percentage, desperation three-quarter shot at the end.

Earlier, Concordia took the upper hand late in regulation with an 8-0 run that gave them a 78-73 lead with 4:52 remaining. National Player of the Week Adam Herman sparked the run with a three-point play, while Preuninger’s fourth three-pointer of the ball game capped it.

From there, though, the Knights’ defense only gave up one more field goal in regulation and forced the Cavs into four turnovers over the final four-plus minutes.

In the first half, behind a cavalry of three-point shooters, the Knights jumped out to a 37-23 lead over the Cavs, their largest lead of the night. At that point, the Knights had hit eight of their 14 three-point attempts with their eight makes accounting for over half the team’s 14 field goals.

However, as they would throughout the night, the Cavs proved resilient, going on a 16-4 run over the next five minutes that closed the gap to two at 41-39. West provided the biggest play during the run when he, in a span of six seconds, stole the ball from Warner Pacific’s Doug Thomas following a defenseive rebound, went up for a lay-up, made it, got fouled, and then hit the free throw for a three-point play. West then continued to push the momentum Concordia’s way after he grabbed an offensive rebound and scored the Cavs’ next bucket on a put back lay-up. After that, Preuninger hit another three-pointer and Anthony Holton sank a jumper to cap the run for the Cavs.

With the game on Saturday, both games between the Cavs and the Knights have been decided by five points or less this season. Warner Pacific took the first game as well, 80-76.

Statistically, Warner Pacific outshot the Cavs .550-to-.478, though the Cavs, in turn, outrebounded Warner Pacific 37-35, including a 14-8 advantage in offensive rebounds. Thanks to those offensive rebounds, Concordia claimed a key 17-9 advantage in second chance points.

Individually, West led all scorers with 27 points, while also contributing nine rebounds (five offensive), four assists, three three-pointers and three steals. Herman followed West with 21 points with 10 rebounds for Concordia, while Jourdan Sweeney and Preuninger added 18 and 14, respectively.

On the flip side, Harris led Warner Pacific with 26 points and nine rebounds, while Biniam Tadele and Doug Thomas each scored 16 to go with another 15 from Sharp. In addition, point guard Dane Johnson totaled a game-high 11 assists, leading an offense that had 21 assists on 33 field goals.

Next up, Concordia and Warner Pacific will both host Oregon Tech and Southern Oregon next weekend. Warner Pacific will first host Southern Oregon on Friday, Jan. 27, while Concordia will play Oregon Tech the same day. The two will then switch opponents for Saturday. All four games will begin at 7:30 p.m.