EUGENE, Ore. –The Northwest Christian University men’s basketball team climbed all the way back to within four points after a 17-point half-time deficit but weren’t able to complete the comeback as they kicked off the 2011-12 season on Thursday night with a home loss to The Master’s College, 68-63.
“The Master’s are a good team,” said head coach Corey Anderson, “they are similar to what we will see in the Cascade Conference so this was a nice measurement for us early on. We’ll come back to work at practice tomorrow. There are areas that we need to improve and they are areas that we can get better in. We have a lot of work to do still on defense, but in our first game we already got better from the first half to the second half.”
The Beacons were playing behind early as the Mustangs scored first and built a 7-2 lead. NCU climbed back to tie the game on a pair of free throws from Jordan Buhler (pictured) to make it 13-13 with 11:03 to play. A layup from Buhler at the 9:52 mark gave the Beacons their first lead of the night and they held a 19-18 edge with just under eight minutes to play.
The Master’s, however, went on a 12-0 run and finished off the half holding a 41-24 lead. Buhler led all scorers in the first half with nine points but the Mustangs had four plays score eight apiece, including Jon Hogan, who hit a pair of three-pointers during the late run for the visitors.
NCU caught fire immediately after the intermission, scoring twelve straight points. Holding the Mustangs without a field goal for the first five minute, the Beacons had climbed back to within 43-39 with 14:36 to play. The Master’s again got their groove back, going on a 18-8 run to take back a 14-point lead with eight minutes to play.
The Beacons made another late charge, fueled by six straight points by Brody McGowan to bring it with four, but the Mustangs held on for the five-point victory.
Northwest Christian (0-1) shot a stifling 57% in the second half and finished the game firing on a 44.8% clip. Buhler led all scorers with a career-high 18 points, adding a career-best eleven rebounds for his first career double-double. Trevor Parker added 16 points, shooting 7-for-12 from the field and McGowan finished with 12 points and nine rebounds.
The Master’s (1-0) was led by Devin Dyer, scoring 12 points and three assists. Hogan and Anthony Wells added eleven points each with Wells leading the Mustangs with six rebounds. NCU out-rebounded TMC on the night, 40-35.
Northwest Christian hits the road for their next four games, beginning with a trip to California to face Simpson University next Wednesday at 7:00 pm.