EUGENE, Ore. – It took an emotionally charged Senior Night in the Morse Event Center, but the nation's hottest team was cooled off on Saturday night as Northwest Christian University pulled off their biggest upset of the year with a 75-64 victory over Eastern Oregon. EOU came into the game leading the Cascade Collegiate Conference and riding a 14-game winning streak. Senior Jordan Whittenburg and sophomore Cameron Marshall combined for 30 second-half points as NCU pulled away from a close game.

Senior Point Guard Leo Thorton, getting his first career start for Senior Night, opened the game with a three-pointer for NCU, but Eastern quickly gained control with an 8-0 run to lead 8-3 with 16:50 to play. The Mounties led for the remainder of the half and led by as many as 12 points, 34-22 with just under three-minutes to play. The Beacons, however, answered with an 8-0 run to close the half, capitalizing on three straight EOU turnovers and they went into the half trailing by four, 34-30.

Eastern tried to run away with the game at the outset of the second half as Neil Fryer and Josh Landsverk each hit early field goals to give the Mountaineers an eight-point lead, 38-30. NCU responded again with an 11-1 run, highlighted by a steal and dunk from Marshall, and the Beacons grabbed a 41-39 lead with 14:23 to play.

The rally seemed to take the wind out of the Mounties sails, and the Beacons began to roll. NCU held Eastern Oregon to 31% shooting in the second half, coupled with 18 second-half points from Whittenburg and 12 after the break from Marshall, and the Beacons ended up cruising to the 11-point win.

“This was a big win for us,” said Head Coach Dave Lipp. “Just like last night we played some big defense in the second half and took them out of their game. We got some big shots down the stretch and had a true team effort tonight.”

The Beacons (17-12, 11-9 CCC) were led by Whittenburg, finishing with 22 points including a 10-for-10 night at the free-throw line. Andrew Miller added eleven points and Marshall finished with 14, shooting 2-for-4 from three-point range.

After the game Marshall said, “It was a great team win for us tonight heading into the playoffs. We really came together and moved the ball around great. The reason Jordan and I were able to do so well in the second half was because of the screens and passes we put together. But the main reason we won tonight was because of our defense. We got the stops we needed and played strong inside and that is what we had to do.

Eastern Oregon (22-6, 15-5 CCC) was led by Kris Groce with 19 points. Fryer fought off an ankle injury suffered earlier in the week to score eleven, adding a team-high six rebounds.

Both teams are off to the CCC post-season tournament, beginning with first-round games on Wednesday. EOU finished as co-conference champions with #11 Oregon Tech, but OIT claims the number one seed on tie-breakers. The Beacons earned the #6 seed and will head to Portland to take on the third-seed, #13 Warner Pacific.