Knights Survive NU Rally
PORTLAND, Ore. – Warner Pacific held off a late rally from Northwest tonight at Bart Valentine Court, and moved to 2-0 in CCC play with a 75-74 win over the Eagles.
The first half belonged to the host Knights (7-3, 2-0 CCC) thanks to senior Keaton Bankofier, who broke out of a slump with four three pointers in the period. Xavier Cannefaxx added 10 points to give WPC a 46-37 lead at the break.
Five minutes into the second half, Collin Malcolm threw down a breakaway dunk to make the score 61-47 and the Knights had their largest lead of the night. NU did not give up however and slowly chipped away at the deficit. NU moved into a zone defense that WPC had difficulty cracking, and Christian Hakilimali scored all 11 of his points in the period to help the Eagles close the gap.
Morris Bethea drained a three pointer that gave WPC a nine point lead (75-66) with 4:59 to play, but the Knights did not score again. NU finished the game with eight straight points, but came up empty in their final possession as Tanner Davis missed a three pointer as time expired.
Bankofier led the home team with a season high 19 points, and Cannefax added 18. Collin Malcolm posted his 5th double-double of the season with 15 points and 11 rebounds.
Kaelen Hicks was the high scorer for NU with 17 points, while also adding a team high nine rebounds.