EUGENE, Ore. – The Evergreen State College Geoducks got their first conference win of the year on Friday night, beating the Northwest Christian University Beacons by a final of 81-80 in a thrilling Cascade Collegiate Conference matchup.
Evergreen (2-12, 1-4 CCC) and NCU (4-7, 0-4) played a hard fought game from start-to-finish in a contest that saw ten lead changes and six tie scores. The game played out to the final seconds, with the Beacons unable to get a shot off on their final possession, leading the Geoducks to their first CCC victory of the year.
Statistically, the two teams were neck and neck. The Geoducks shot at a .469 clip on the night, slightly higher than the home side who finished at .455. Northwest Christian held a slight edge in rebounds at 41-37, while both teams turned the ball over 11 times, each capitalizing with 15 points.
The first half was streaky for both teams, with huge point swings. With the score tied at 13:22, Evergreen would dominate for the next ten minutes, slowly building their lead up to 15. NCU battled-back during the final four minutes of first-half action, going into the intermission trailing by five.
Both sides regrouped and came out focused in the second, as the score never swayed more than six points in either teams’ direction. The home side seemed to gain the advantage midway through the period, earning their largest lead of the night with 9:13 remaining. TESC came back to take the lead at the 4:45 mark. The teams traded buckets for the final three minutes, with the Beacons taking a one-point lead with 0:19 left to play. The Geoducks inbounded to junior guard Pat Ling, who drove the length of the court to hit a contested pull-up jumper from just outside the key. After a timeout, NCU ran the court, but were unable to get a final shot off as Beacon guard Brock Rice released an eighteen-foot make mere moments after the final buzzer sounded.
Four Geoducks finished the night in double-figures, with Dustin Mead scoring a game-high 22, including six three-pointers on seven attempts. Ling was next in line with 16, while Ryan Quigley scored 13. Jaurence Chisholm notched the only double-double of the night, turning in 11 rebounds and ten points. Shawn Spencer played well off the bench for Evergreen, contributing nine points and seven rebounds in his 14 minutes of action.
The Beacons had nine players register points on the night, led by Michael Loomis (20) and Davonte Cleveland (18), who went 7-9 from the field and 3-4 from downtown. Canyon Dwyre came up just shy of a double-double with ten rebounds and nine boards. Point guard Kenny Blackwell had eight assists in the loss.
The Geoducks are back in CCC action tomorrow night, staying in Oregon to take on the Warriors of Corban University while NCU stays home to host Northwest University. Both games are scheduled for 7:30 pm tip-offs.