La Grande, Ore. | Warner Pacific managed to get their first CCC win under their belt as they defeated the Eastern Oregon University Mountaineers on Saturday evening 83-74.
Kendall Watson notched his second double-double in a row with 21 points (season-high) whilst grabbing 10 boards.
Three Knights scored in double digits in addition to Watson; Kadeem Strickland with 16, and Kaleb Tompkins and Jalen Ballard with 12 each. JD Esters dished out 7 assists in the victory.
Warner Pacific had sticky glue on their hands, as they managed to turn the ball over just 5 times, while forcing 18 by the Mountaineers.
After a 7-0 Mountie run to start the game, the Knights’ 3-point shooting showed up after back-to-back three’s by Miles Brown and Kadeem Strickland as the Knights responded to the Mountie run with a 16-4 run of their own to take the 16-11 lead; the Knights led from that point on.
Heading into the break, it was a 42-37 Warner Pac lead.
After the exchanging of a couple of buckets and the Knights holding tight to the lead, it started to slip in the second half and with 12:49 to go, WPU’s lead dwindled to one. The Knights responded with a 6-0 run to largen the lead and eventually seal the 9-point victory.
Eastern Oregon outscored the Knights 44-30 in points in the paint, but Warner Pacific equalized from beyond the arc knocking down 9 threes compared to EOU’s 4.
Eastern Oregon’s Max McCullough had a double-double of his own with 17 and 10.
The Knights moved to 5-5 and 1-1 in the CCC, and will have the week off while they prep for the cross-town matchup with the highest scoring team in the CCC Multnomah on Tuesday, December 17
th at CC Perry Gymnasium. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m.