EUGENE, Ore. – The Northwest Christian men's basketball team once again found themselves trailing at halftime, and the Beacons once again mounted a comeback, claiming an 85-75 victory over Southern Oregon University on Saturday night. The Beacons took advantage of loose whistles in the second half, forcing 22 second-half fouls as they shot 35-for-39 at the free-throw line in the period.

Overall, the Beacons finished the night shooting 88% from the charity stripe, hitting on 44 of 50 attempts, including a perfect 15-for-15 effort from Erik Quick-Warner and a solid 13-for-14 effort from Dylan Perry. Perry finished the night with a game-high 23 points off the bench, which was coupled with 20 points and four assists for Quick-Warner.

Quick-Warner said, “We came out timid in the first half, so we knew we needed to be the aggressors. We also saw that the refs were calling the fouls pretty tight, so we had to play strong to the hoop. The only reason I was able to get to the line so much was because my teammates found me and got me open to drive the lane, so the credit really goes to them.”

The Beacons comeback victory was their sixth when trailing at the intermission. Head Coach Dave Lipp commented, “I'm tired of talking about the second half comebacks. We've been preaching 40 minutes of solid basketball and we haven't been able to get that done for a while. At least we were able to have that strong second half. We controlled the tempo, we took them out of their offense and we were able to rebound.”

Asked about the play of Perry off the bench Lipp added, “It always helps us when we get the ball inside to Dylan. He's stronger than a tank and it was nice to see him capitalize on his aggression at the line tonight.”

The Beacons (10-7, 4-4 CCC) have matched their win total from the entire 2007-2008 season, with 12 games remaining in the regular season. Perry was 5-for-11 from the field and added 13 at the line for his 23 points and Quick-Warner saw just six shot attempts during the game, but set a school record with his 15 consecutive freebies without a miss. Jordan Whittenburg also came strong off the bench, scoring 12 points along with seven rebounds.

Southern Oregon (5-11, 3-4 CCC) was led in the loss by Jarrad Childs, coming off the bench to score 18 points on 8-for-16 shooting. Trevor McCay, also off the bench, scored 15 for the Raiders and starter Jackson Humphrey finished with ten points and five assists, after starting the game with six points in the first five minutes. Humphrey also led SOU with six rebounds.

The Beacons will be back in action next weekend as they travel to Washington to face #15 Evergreen State on Friday night. That game, along with Saturday's visit to Northwest University, is schedule for a 7:30 pm tip-off.