NU's Ryan Dornik uses Michael Green's (#32) screen.
Northwest U. Rallies to Defeat VIU
KIRKLAND, Wash. – Northwest University turned a one point halftime deficit into a 70-51 victory over Vancouver Island University this afternoon in a non-conference game.
Both teams would play solid defense and suffer from cold shooting in the first half as Northwest would hit 9 of 26 shots (35%) and VIU would connect with 33% of their shots (7-21). Neither team could find the basket in the early going as NU would lead 4-3 six minutes into the game. Ryan Dornik would hit a 3-pointer to put Northwest up 7-3 (14:01), but VIU would go on a 16-2 run and take a 19-9 lead as Clayton Billett would drain a 3-pointer with 8:09 left in the half. The Eagles would chip away at the VIU lead and tie it at 19-all at the 5:05 mark with Nemanja Grujicic’s layup. Brandon Jones would hit two treys to give the Mariners the 25-21 lead with 2:44 remaining. NU’s Michael Russo would hit two free throws to pull the Eagles to within two, 25-23, and Michael Greene would give NU a short lived 26-25 lead with a three point play. Brandon Jones would hit a driving layup at the buzzer to put VIU up 27-26.
Northwest would catch fire to start the second half and out score VIU 14-4 to take the 40-31 lead after Michael Greene’s layup with 16:01 left in the half. Two free throws by Greene would increase the Eagle lead to twelve, 49-37, with 10:21 to go in the game. Two straight Mariner 3’s would cut the NU lead in half, 49-43 (9:37), but a 7-0 run by NU would get their lead up to 56-43 at the 8:34 mark. Northwest would slowly pull away and would have their largest lead, 70-50 with 2:10 to go as they would close out the game for their second win of the young season.
Michael Russo (Sammamish, Wash.) led Northwest U. (2-0) for the second game in a row as he tied for game high honors with 25 points and added 7 rebounds. Junior Michael Greene (Bellingham, Wash.) added 11 points and 7 rebounds while Nemanja Grujicic (Ratkovo, Serbia) grabbed 11 rebounds for a game high. Northwest U. shot 49% in the second half including 6 for 15 (40%) from beyond the 3-point line.
Vancouver Island was led by Brandon Jones’ 25 points as he would hit 9 of 18 shots for 50% shooting for the game. Ryan Davidson added 8 points for the Mariners and Clayton Billett 6. VIU hit 62% of the free throws and were out rebounded 40-34 by the Eagles.
"Our intensity in the second half helped us put a pretty good half together," said John Van Dyke, NU head coach. "I believe this is something we can build on."
Northwest U. continues with Canadian competition as they host Thompson Rivers University (Kamloops, B.C.) on Friday night at 7 p.m.