Jourdan Sweeney's three-pointer at the buzzer gave CU the win
Sweeney's Buzzer-Beater Gives Concordia 72-69 Win Over NCU
BOX SCORE
EUGENE, Ore. – Northwest Christian used a 14-2 run to tie the game at 69 with less than four seconds left, but Jourdan Sweeney hit a three at the buzzer to give Concordia the 72-69 Cascade Collegiate Conference men’s win Saturday night.
With the win, Concordia improves to 10-15 overall this season, 4-10 in the CCC. Northwest Christian falls to 8-19 overall and 2-13 in conference play.
The Cavaliers shot a scorching 64 percent (16-of-25) in the first half while limiting Northwest Christian to 34.5 percent (10-of-29), but turnovers kept the game early. The Beacons led by as many as six points in the period when Cameron Marshall’s three-pointer gave NCU the 20-14 lead with 7:19 to play before halftime, but the Cavs closed the half on a 23-9 run to turn a six-point deficit into a 37-29 lead at the break.
Concordia opened the second half scoring six of the first seven points to take a 13-point lead, the Cavs’ largest of the contest. A pair of Quentin Guidry three-pointers concluded a 10-point Northwest Christian run that pulled the Beacons to within three at 43-40, but CU scored the next six points to push the advantage back to nine.
Mitch Wilson knocked down two free throws with 7:22 to play to pull to 57-53, but again CU responded with a run to extend the lead, this time a 10-2 stretch that gave the Cavs a 12-point advantage in the final four minutes of play.
Northwest Christian scored 11 consecutive points to pull within one on Brent McKee’s trey with 1:14 to play. A couple free throws put CU up 69-66 with 33 seconds to go, but McKee again connected from long-range, this time with 3.6 seconds remaining to tie the game at 69-69. That was when Sweeney launched an off-balance three as time expired, finding the net to clinch the road victory for Concordia.
Sweeney led a group of four CU players who reached double-digit point totals in the contest, as the CU forward scored 21 points on 9-of-13 shooting and added a team-high seven rebounds. Adam Herman shot a perfect 6-of-6 from the field to score 13, while Kevan West tied that tally on 5-of-7 shooting. Drew Preuninger connected on four of seven three-point attempts to total 12 points in the win.
Guidry led Northwest Christian with 21 points. McKee scored 15 to go with a game-high 10 rebounds, and Cameron Marshall added 12 for Northwest Christian.
Concordia returns to action Feb. 11, when the Cavaliers host Northwest in a CCC contest scheduled for 7:30 p.m.