Northwest Survives Furious Evergreen Rally
The Evergreen State College missed three attempts at a tying basket in the closing seconds as visiting Northwest University escaped Costantino Recreation Center with a 76-74 Cascade Collegiate Conference men's basketball win on Tuesday night.
Ryan Quigley tallied 28 points and 14 rebounds and Pat Ling added 22 to lead the Geoducks (2-16 overall, 1-8 CCC), while Christian Hakilimali led five Northwest players in double figures with 16.
The Eagles (9-10, 3-6) shot 70 percent in the opening half, including 9-for-13 from beyond the three-point line, in building a 55-32 halftime lead. The Geoducks, lethargic defensively in the first 20 minutes, rallied back into the game with tough defense that limited the visitors to 33 percent accuracy the rest of the way.
Evergreen opened the second half by scoring 11 unanswered points and 18 of the first 22 to cut its deficit under double figures, 59-50, with 12:30 left. The Eagles responded by regaining a 70-55 lead with 7:26 to play, but the hosts fought back one more time.
Ling finished at the rim and added a free throw as the Geoducks cut their deficit to 75-74 with 21 seconds on the clock before Hakilimali hit the second of two free throws to make the score 76-74.
Pushing the ball up the floor, the Geoducks had three tries at the tying basket, twice missing and grabbing the offensive rebound before the final effort fell off the rim as the buzzer sounded.
Quigley's 28 points is a career-best and it came on 11-for-17 shooting from the floor, including 3-for-4 from beyond the arc. He grabbed 10 of his 14 rebounds in the second half alone.
Evergreen shot 45 percent overall (30-for-67) and enjoyed a 37-28 edge in rebounds.
Joining Hakilimali in double figures for the Eagles were Kaelan Hicks with 13, Jasdeep Singh with 12, Justice Martion with 11 and Tanner Davis with 10. Northwest ended up shooting 53 percent overall (27-for-51) and 48 percent from three-point range (10-for-21).