EUGENE, Ore. – Second-Year Head Coach Luke Jackson has another memorable victory under his belt as the Northwest Christian University men’s basketball team upset No. 12 Concordia on Saturday night, 63-55. The win keeps NCU in the hunt for a top-four finish in the Cascade Collegiate Conference with two weekends remaining in the regular season.
The Beacons (16-8, 9-6 CCC) shot 44% in the game and held the Cavaliers (20-5, 10-4) to 33% shooting as the visitors were just 3-for-14 from three-point range. Leading scorer Tyler Velasquez, averaging just over 16 points per game, was held to 0-for-16 shooting including seven missed treys.
NCU defeated Concordia for the first time in Jackson’s young coaching career, and did so after surviving eight second-half lead changes as the Cavs fought back from a six-point halftime deficit, 32-26.
Concordia scored the first six points of the second half and finally regained the lead, 38-37 at the 13:36 mark. The teams would ping-pong for the next six minutes and the Cavs held their final lead of the night, 48-47 with 7:51 to play after a three-pointer from Zach Geary.
Sophomore Jay Mayernik proved to be the catalyst, scoring five points during a 10-2 run that saw the Beacons move to a seven-point advantage with five minutes to play.
Back-to-back buckets surrounding an NCU turnover gave CU some life and brought them to within 57-54, but the Cavs would score just one free throw over the final four minutes.
NCU was led by Javonte Byrd, coming off the bench to score 13 points, including six scored on thunderous dunks in the second half. Mayernik added 12 points and three blocks and senior Devyn Iglehart (pictured, center) collected ten points, seven rebounds, and three steals. An off-night shooting the ball didn’t stop junior Austin Kuemper from contributing as he ended the night with eight points, ten rebounds, and four assists.
In his final regular-season home game, NCU senior Travis Pacos (pictured, right) helped seal the Beacon win, scoring the teams’ final six points over the closing two minutes of action. He ended the night with ten points, all in the second half, putting him at 988 in his career.
After the game Jackson said, “I am so proud of the effort of our seniors. Tonight was about those guys and the time, effort, and energy that they devoted to NCU. Devyn played solid, Harley Turner (pictured, left) started the game and gave us good minutes and when we needed him most, Travis stepped up and closed out the game for us.”
The Cavaliers, who missed out on an opportunity to jump into a first-place tie with idle College of Idaho, was led by Justyn Searle who scored 18 points on 8-for-10 shooting. Esvan Middleton added nine points and nine rebounds and Geary finished with nine, shooting 3-for-9 from downtown.
NCU, sitting alone in fifth place in the CCC with three games to play, remains one game behind Southern Oregon for fourth and just 1 ½ games behind both Concordia and Warner Pacific in second-place. The Beacons will face their toughest test of the season next Friday night, traveling to face No. 5 College of Idaho, who has not lost at home in over two years. Concordia hosts suddenly hot Northwest on Friday night. The Eagles swept SOU and OIT at home this weekend.