Box Score PORTLAND, Ore.  – One month after Concordia scored the final 21 points of the game to come back and beat Northwest Christian University by two points in Eugene, the Beacons got the ultimate payback. Junior Post Greg Shepard hit a fade-away five-footer with 1.5 seconds remaining to lift NCU to a 77-76 win over the Cavaliers, keeping their post-season hopes alive.

Northwest Christian (11-17, 4-12 CCC) set up the final play after Shepard corralled a missed Concordia jumper with 34 seconds left. Shepard's rebound gave the Beacons the upper-hand late as they could now hold for the last shot.

Still, Concordia (14-13, 6-10 CCC) played solid defense early in the final possession. With fouls to give, the Cavs twice fouled on the perimeter to prevent any sort of drive for the Northwest Christian guards. NCU's Brian Hampton eventually found a crease and sped towards the basket for a potential game-winner. CU's Drew Preuninger tailed Hampton, though, and slapped the ball away from Hampton just before he was going up for a contested lay-up.

Fortunately for the Beacons, the ball bounced out off of Preuninger, setting up their game-winning in-bounds play. However, the Cavs refused to give the Beacons anything easy with defenders all over Shepard when he got the ball. None of it mattered, though, as the Beacons forward hit the shot with hands in his face.

The Cavs took one final timeout with 1.5 seconds left after that, but could only get a desperation three at the buzzer that had little chance to go in.

The late-game dramatics followed a tight second half that saw nine lead changes and five ties. Northwest Christian came back early in the period with a 10-0 run that gave them their first lead since 11:55 remained in the first.  The Beacons got eight of the ten points during the run in the paint, as the team stepped up their shooting in the second half. NCU shot 69.2 percent in the second half and missed just four field goals after the 10-0 run gave them the lead at 54-53 with 11:32 left.

The Beacons' hot shooting also let them maintain a small lead until a three-pointer from the Cavs' Preuninger put Concordia up again at 68-66 with 5:12 left in the game. Preuninger's three was his fourth in the game at that point, moving him to the top of the Concordia career list in the category.

Preuninger didn't stop there, though, hitting two more threes later in the game, as the senior guard led the Cavalier offense down the stretch. In the end, Preuninger's three late three-pointers accounted for nine of the final 11 CU points in the game with his last giving the Cavs' their final lead at 76-75 with 1:27 left.

Earlier, the Cavs' ran out to a nine point lead in the first half behind a 14-4 run in the middle of the period. A lay-up from the Cavs' Kory Kirwan started the run and gave the Cavs' a lead that they would not relinquish till the Beacons' 10-0 run in the second. The strong stretch also featured two highlight-reel dunks from Concordia seniors Jourdan Sweeney and Kevan West. Sweeney's came first when the forward drove straight down the lane for the flush with the shot clock winding down. West's followed a few minutes later after he stole the ball from NCU's Shepard then finished his own fast break with the slam. By the end of the run, the Cavs' led 33-24 and cruised into halftime from there.

However, Northwest Christian would soon turn the tables on Concordia, as the Beacons stepped up their defense to hold Concordia to just 40 percent shooting in the second half after the Cavs had hit 55.2 percent of their shots in the first.

Overall, the Beacons outshot the Cavs 56.7-to-48.1 percent, though the Cavs held an astounding 18-0 advantage from the free throw line.

Individually, Preuninger led all scorers with 22 points, while West finished with 21. Behind them, Gage Aker and Sweeney also scored in double figures for the Cavs with 14 and 10 points respectively. Preuninger finished the game with six three-pointers. Overall Concordia's seniors fittingly accounted for 71 of the team's 76 points on senior night at Cavalier Gymnasium.

For the Beacons, Hampton led the way with 16 points off 6-of-8 shooting from the field and made four three-pointers. In addition four other Beacons players scored in double figures in Jordan Buhler (13), Travis Pacos (12), Trevor Parker (10) and Shepard (10). Buhler led all players with seven rebounds.

Next up, Northwest Christian hosts No. 2 Oregon Tech, while Concordia travels to face The College of Idaho. Both games are set for Friday, Feb. 17 and will begin at 7:30 p.m. The Beacons are currently tied with CI for the final playoff spot in the CCC post-season tournament with two games left to play for each school.