Beacons Hold Off Eagles, Head Into CCC Championship Final
KIRKLAND, Wash. - Northwest Christian held off a furious rally by Northwest U to edge the Eagles, 71-67, and earn their way to the CCC championship final with the College of Idaho on Tuesday and a trip to the NAIA Division II National Championships in Missouri.
After leading 41-31 at the half aided by 58% shooting in the period, Spencer Coleman’s lay-in with 13:20 to go in the game put Northwest Christian up by 18, 39-57. The Eagles wouldn’t go away easily and would slowly chip away at the Beacon lead and Michael Greene’s short jumper in the lane would make it a 6 points ball game, 60-54 with 8:05 showing on the clock. NCU would answer with a Coleman free throw and a jumper by Austin Keumper to push the NCU lead back up to 9, 65-56, with 5:36 left in the game. A big 3-pointer by NU’s Michael Russo would ignite a 7-0 run by the Eagles and with 1:38 to go the Beacon lead was cut to 2, 65-63. Northwest U had a chance to tie the score trailing 67-65 with 1:10 to go, but missed and Spencer Coleman would sink two free throws to give NCU a 4 point, 59-65 lead with 29 seconds on the clock. C.J. Carter would miss two attempts and Jevonte Byrd would put the capper on the game with a dunk with 5 seconds to go sending NCU into the championship final.
Northwest U (20-11) was led by senior Michael Greene's 20 points and Nemanja Grujicic added 16 points and 7 rebounds before fouling out late in the game. Michael Russo scored 13 as did C.J. Carter for the Eagles who shot 52% for the night. NU was held to 24% shooting from beyond the 3-point line.
Spencer Coleman led the Beacons (18-12) with a game high 24 points while Austin Keumper scored 21 hitting 6 of 7 shots and going 8 for 10 from the free throw line. NCU shot an impressive 54% for the game including 43% from the 3-point line. The Beacons out rebounded NU 32-24.
“This was a heartbreaker for us to lose tonight,” said Coach John Van Dyke of Northwest U, “but I couldn’t be prouder of our group of guys who left it all out on the court tonight. Give credit to Northwest Christian as they made the plays when it counted and they have a solid ball club. We’ll reflect back on this season and feel good about our 20 wins as a team. That was a great college basketball game tonight, what an atmosphere."
Northwest Christian faces the College of Idaho in Caldwell on Tuesday for the CCC Championship.