De'Jon Bowman had three blocks, including this one, in Warner Pacific's win.
Warner Pacific Pulls Away From Evergreen
The Evergreen State College was within three points of No. 21-ranked Warner Pacific with about 11 minutes remaining Friday night, but after that the Knights pulled away for a 103-77 Cascade Collegiate Conference men's basketball win at CRC Gymnasium.
De'Jon Bowman registered a double-double with 11 points and 16 rebounds, and he added three blocks to lead the Knights (20-8 overall, 16-4) to their sixth consecutive victory. Taylor Drey drilled five three-pointers to lead the Geoducks (8-19, 5-14), who saw their slim postseason playoff hopes come to an end.
Despite a serious height disadvantage, the Geoducks stayed within striking distance of the Knights through the opening half, trailing just 45-40 at the intermission. Three-point shooting was key for the Geoducks, who were 7-for-16 from long range in the opening 20 minutes.
The second half started well for Evergreen, which scored 11 of the initial 15 points in the second half to take a 51-49 lead on Frankie Johnson's layup about three minutes into the period. Earl Jones hit a layup and Xavier Cannefax drilled a pair of free throws to put Warner Pacific back on top, and it stayed there the remainder of the contest.
Taylor Young keyed the Knight's surge in the latter part of the game, scoring 11 of his 15 points in the second half. Charles Honest muscled his way for nine points in the closing minutes to help Warner Pacific pull away.
Drey continued his hot shooting in recent games in leading the Geoducks with 18 points. He was joined in double figures by Brock Otis with 13, Donald Terry with 12 and Frankie Johnson and Ryan Quigley with 10 apiece. Alix Hernandez dished out 10 assists for Evergreen, which shot 37 percent overall and 40 percent from beyond the three-point line. The Geoducks turned the ball over just seven times in the up-and-down affair.
Warner Pacific shot 63 percent overall, 53 percent from long range and enjoyed a significant 50-26 rebound advantage. In addition to Bowman's totals, Jones contributed 17 points and eight assists, and both Collin Malcolm and Cannefax tallied 13 points.
Evergreen closes out its season at 7:30 p.m. Saturday against visiting Multnomah, and five players – Hernandez, Johnson, Terry, Otis and Landon Rushton – will be honored on Senior Night.