KIRKLAND, Wash. – The scorching hot shooting Beacon men's basketball team cooled off considerably on Friday night and it cost them, dropping a key road conference game to Northwest University, 57-55. NCU shot just 41% from the field including a 3-for-14 effort from three-point range as they were unable to hold on to a halftime lead.
 
Returning to the scene of their semifinal victory last year, a win that propelled the Beacons to their first ever NAIA national championship appearance, Northwest Christian broke out to an 18-9 lead as they forced seven turnovers by the Eagles in the first 9:45 of the half. Northwest slowly climbed back into the game to trail by four, 25-21, with 3:59 left in the half and the Beacons took a slim 29-28 lead into the intermission.
 
Northwest took an early 33-30 lead to start the second half but the Beacons put together an 8-0 run punctuated by a back-to-back lay-ins from Jay Mayernik (pictured) to take a 38-33 lead with 12 minutes remaining. Over the next ten minutes the teams traded leads nine times with neither team leading by more than three points. With the game tied at 52-52 and 1:39 to go in the game, C.J. Carter found a wide open Thomas Jordan in the right corner burying a trey to give the Eagles a 55-52 lead. Carter then put the game away with two free throws with 14 seconds remaining.
 
The Eagles (10-4, 1-2 CCC) got 13 points from three players; Dak Shagren, Carter, and Nemanja Grujicic. Shagren added eight rebounds and four assists. NU held a 33-32 advantage on the glass and survived an 18-turnover performance.
 
Mayernik finished with 16 points for the Beacons, shooting 7-for-9 from the field. Travis Pacos added 12 points while Michael Loomis scored nine.
 
Head Coach Luke Jackson said, "We got off to a hot start tonight and were able to hold them defensively. They hit a few three pointers in transition at the end of the first half that really hurt. Unfortunately, we just weren't able to ever put them away in the second half and ended up coming up short.
 
Northwest Christian (8-3, 1-1) returns to action on Saturday evening, taking on Evergreen in Olympia at 5 p.m.