EUGENE, Ore. – The Northwest Christian University men's basketball team was picked to finish 10th in the Cascade Collegiate Conference this season, but the Beacons officially proved the voters wrong this weekend as they locked up both sixth-place and the #6 seed for the upcoming CCC tournament. NCU picked up a split, knocking off Southern Oregon on Friday night before falling to #2 Oregon Tech on Saturday.

On Friday the Beacons held Southern Oregon to just one point over the final 6:30 and took home a 64-59 victory after trailing for most of the game. With NCU still trailing 59-58 with 1:16 to play, Jordan Whittenburg (pictured) nailed a three-pointer to give the Beacons the lead by two. The Raiders would miss field goal attempts on three possessions in the final minute, and Whittenburg iced the win with a pair of free-throws with 13-seconds to play, giving NCU the season sweep over SOU.

Head Coach Dave Lipp said, “We played smart down the stretch tonight, and although that play didn't really go according to how we drew it up, Jordan hit that big three that was key.”

With Andrew Williams sidelined for most of the game due to illness, back-up small forward Dylan Perry came off the bench to lead NCU, scoring 16 points in 27 minutes of work. Whittenburg finished with 15 points and Andrew Miller chipped in 12 points and seven rebounds for the Beacons. Erik Quick-Warner scored ten points and led the team with three assists and three steals.

Southern Oregon (9-18, 7-11 CCC) was led by Humphrey Jackson, scoring 12 points with seven rebounds and a game-high four assists. Eli Thornton and Austin Wolfer scored ten points apiece in the losing effort.

Saturday was a much different story for the Beacons who, despite shooting close to 50%, were overwhelmed by #2 Oregon Tech on their senior night, 96-67. “We just got outplayed by a better team,” said Lipp. “We were pretty tired after playing so hard on Friday and we weren't able to respond.”

Oregon Tech (23-5, 13-5) was led by Christian Cavanaugh with 30 points. The 6-10 center hit his first ten baskets and finished shooting 12-for-13, including five dunks. Cavanaugh added a game-high eight rebounds. Justin Parnell added 16 points off the bench and Jguwon Hogges scored 14.

The Beacons (15-12, 9-9) were led by Perry and Garrett Crinklaw, both coming off the bench to score 13. The third highest scorer was Brent McKee, also coming off the pine, with eight. Both teams went deep into their reserves on Saturday and for the Beacons, only 34% of their points came from their starters. The NCU reserves combined to score 44 points. Miller and Cameron Marshall led the starters with seven points each.

NCU is now 9-9 in the conference and is two games behind fifth-place Evergreen State and two games ahead of seventh-place Southern Oregon. A tie with either team is still possible after the final games of the regular season, coming up this weekend, but due to tie-breakers in either direction, the Beacons are locked into the sixth-seed for the CCC post-season tournament, set to begin on February 25th.

NCU closes out the regular season at home on Friday and Saturday, hosting The College of Idaho and Eastern Oregon.