EUGENE, Ore. – The Northwest Christian University men's basketball team won a tightly-contested game against the Willamette University Bearcats on Saturday night, winning by a final of 89-84 in the Morse Event Center.
 
NCU (3-0) shot 46.7% on the night, including 8-18 (44.4%) from beyond-the-arc, while the Bearcats finished the contest at 40.3%. Willamette held the edge in rebounds 45-39, while the Beacons forced seven more turnovers (17-10).
 
The first period was a back-and-forth battle, with the Bearcats leading for nine of the first 11 minutes, before the home side took control. Brock Rice hit three-point shots on back-to-back possessions to put the Beacons back in front. After trading points again, NCU went on an eight-point-run to put them up for good before taking a 41-33 lead into the half.
 
Willamette pressured hard in the second half, and cut the lead to just four with 2:44 left to play. NCU secured their victory with clutch shooting from the line though, sinking eight-of-nine three-throws in the final two minutes to ice the game and improve to 3-0.
 
Senior Guard Kenny Blackwell had a monster game for the Beacons, leading all players with 23 points on 8-for-15 shooting (53%) while also grabbing a team-high ten boards, dishing out three assists and getting three of NCU's 12 steals. Malik Heptot had 15 points, shooting 64% in addition to pulling down six rebounds. Rice also had fifteen, going 3-for-4 from long-range and 6-of-7 from the line. Reece Robinson was the fourth Beacon in double-digits, ending the night with 11 points, six rebounds, and two steals.
 
Willamette (0-1) had five players cross the ten-point mark, with Jordan Jenkins scoring a team-high 18 to go along with his nine rebounds. Brendan McCullough (17), Caleb Roberts (12), Nico Troplent (11), and Casey Thornton (11) were the others Bearcats to land in double-digits. Thornton had a double-double for the Bearcats, securing ten rebounds to go with his 11 points.
 
NCU hits the road after Thanksgiving, traveling to Atherton, California to play in the Bud Presley Thanksgiving Classic, hosted by Menlo College. They open up on Friday, taking on NAIA Division I No. 25 Westmont College at 2 p.m.