Greene has now scored 49 points in the last two games.
Eagles Turn Back Warner Pacific, Championship Game Next
KIRKLAND, Wash. – In the battle of two NAIA ranked teams, No. 9 Northwest University defeated a tough No. 15 Warner Pacific team tonight for a 91-80 victory in the Cascade Conference semifinal game of the post season tournament. NU turned back Warner Pacific come back attempts to earn their 27th victory of the year and improve their record to 27-3.
Northwest jumped out to an early 8-4 lead in the first half, but Warner Pacific would catch fire and take the lead on 3 pointers by Biniam Tadele and Ryan Parks, 19-15, with 11:20 left in the half. NU would battle back and after two ties, would take the lead, 25-21, on a Rich Skillman 3 pointer from the left side with 6:51 remaining until the break. Michael Greene, on his way to a 25 point, 11 rebound game, hit a layup off an assist by Ahmaad Cook to make it 30-23 Northwest at the 5:10 mark. Greene would then grab an offensive rebound and put in back in to increase the Eagles’ lead to 32-23 with 4:23 showing on the clock. Dane Johnson’s driving layup would pull WPC to within 5 points, 32-27, but a 9-2 run by Northwest would give the Eagles a 41-29 lead with 1:34 to go. The Knights wouldn’t go away easily and two NU turnovers would lead to 5 points by Biniam Tadele as he would hit a 15 foot jumper and a 3 pointer from the left side to make it a 7 point ball game at the half. Tadele led all scorers with 15 first half points, hitting 6 of 7 shots.
Greene would score six straight second half points to give Northwest a 13 point, 47-34 lead off nice assists from teammates Jason Waltman and Ahmaad Cook. With NU leading 51-39 at the 14:56 mark, Warner Pacific would pick up the pace and go on a 13-5 run to close to within four, 56-52, with 12:36 remaining in the game. But then it was NU’s turn to make an 8-2 run capped off by a Rich Skillman trey to get the Eagle lead back up to ten points, 64-54, with 10:18 showing on the clock. Warner Pac would cut the NU lead to eight three times, but each time the Eagles would answer and increase their lead to ten. A Tadele jumper cut the NU lead to seven, 81-74, with 3:24 left in the contest, but NU would once again go on a 6-1 run to lead by 12, 87-75 with just 1:50 to go. The Eagles would go 4 for 4 from the free throw line in the closing minute for the win.
In addition to Michael Greene’s double-double (25 pts./11 rebs.), Northwest U. (27-3) had four other players score in double figures. Rich Skillman scored 17 points, going 5 for 8 from beyond the 3 point line, Ahmaad Cook scored 11 points and handed out a team high 7 assists, Nemanja Grujicic also scored 11 points, and Tyler Mendezona dropped in 10 points for the Eagles. NU shot 56% for the game, 35% from the 3 point line and had 24 assists for the game. The Eagles outrebounded Warner Pacific 32-29.
Warner Pacific (23-8) was led by Biniam Tadele’s 21 points. Ryan Parks came off the bench to score 18 points (4-6 from 3 point range), and Sean Gaines also came off the Knight bench to score 17 points. WPC shot 52% for the night including 33% from the 3 point line.
“Michael Greene had a huge game for us tonight, but credit his teammates for finding him with some exceptional assists. His rebounds, though, were a result of his hard work,” commented head coach, John Van Dyke. “We moved the ball well against their zone and, as we’ve done all season, our guys found one another for good shots. 24 team assists is indicative of players finding a teammate for a good shot.”
The No. 2 seeded Eagles will now play the CCC No. 1 seed, Oregon Tech Owls, for the conference tournament title on Tuesday, February 28 in Klamath Falls, Oregon at 7 p.m. Both teams were CCC co-champions with OIT winning both regular season meetings.