EUGENE, Ore. – Only one starter played more than 20 minutes and every player was on the floor for at least six minutes on Friday night as the No. 8 Northwest Christian University men’s basketball team took down The Evergreen State College, 83-73.
NCU (21-4, 14-1 CCC) shot 54% in the game while Evergreen (8-16, 5-11) shot just 37%. The Beacons out-rebounded the Geoducks 42-35 and ended the night with a 39-29 advantage in points off the bench.
Leading by 11 points at half-time, the Beacons quickly grew their advantage to 21 with a 10-0 run to open the second half. By the time the lead grew to 24, at 57-33, most of the starters and prominent members of the rotation had been long gone from hardwood, making way for extended minutes for the Beacon bench.
By the seven-minute mark the Beacons were ahead by 26 and still led 73-50 with 3:42 remaining. A tedious seven-minute stretch to end the game saw the two teams combine to shoot 20 free-throw attempts and a sloppy Beacon defensive effort led to a 19-4 run by ESC. The Geoducks had climbed all the way back to within eight points, but Jordan Alexander drained five-of-six free-throws in the final 22 seconds to close out the win.
The Beacons had three players in double-figures on Friday, led by Javonte Byrd with 15 points on 7-for-9 shooting. Austin Kuemper added a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds while Austin Tyner (pictured) came off the bench to score 12 points, including a 2-for-3 performance from range. Jay Mayernik played 22 significant minutes in a reserve role, scoring five points and ten rebounds.
Evergreen also had three players in double figures and Brock Otis led the charge with 21 points. Landon Rushton scored 12, including eight in the final five minutes and Ryan Quigley scored 11. ESC leading scorer Alix Hernandez was quiet, held to just two points on 1-for-5 shooting.
NCU returns to the court on Saturday night and will look to tie a school record with their 15th consecutive victory when they take on Northwest University (10-16, 6-10) at 7:30 pm.