PORTLAND, Ore. – The Northwest Christian University men's basketball team were unable to complete a late comeback on Saturday night, falling by a final of 112-106 to the No. 25-ranked Warner Pacific College Knights in CCC action.
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NCU (6-8, 2-5 CCC) shot 46.1-percent on the night and finished with a +3 turnover advantage. The Beacons did all they could to stay in the game, including hitting 27 of 31 free-throw attempts (87.1-percent), but were unable to overcome the Knights (13-4, 8-1) 54.7-percent shooting efforts.
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The Knights came out hot to start the game, scoring the first seven points to give them an early lead. Warner Pacific played from out-front for the majority of the first half, building their lead to ten points on a Xavier Cannefax layup at 11:27 to put them up 28-18.
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The Beacons would go on a seven-point run to tie the score at 37 at the 4:43 mark on a pair of made free-throws by
Reece Robinson. After another short back-and-forth, WPC turned-up the pressure in the final minutes of the half, building their lead back up to 11 and taking a 55-48 advantage into the break.
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Warner Pacific would control the pace of play during the first fifteen minutes of the second half, fending off the Beacons offensive efforts while slowly building their lead.
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Northwest Christian made a late push, scoring five unanswered to bring the score to 99-94 with 2:19 remaining.
Austin Tyner hit a contested three-pointer with just 0:13 left on the clock to get the Beacons within three at 109-106. With the shot clock greater than the game clock, NCU had no choice but to foul on the following Warner Pacific possessions. Unfortunately for the Beacons, the Knights would sink three of their four free-throws in the final ten-seconds of play to secure the victory.
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Michael Loomis had a huge game for the Beacons, leading his team in scoring and rebounding with a 26 point, nine rebound effort.
Spencer Mattox and
Austin Tyner both came off the bench to score 17 apiece while combining for ten boards.
Reece Robinson also contributed big off the bench, finishing the night with 16 points and seven rebounds.
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The Knights were led by Collin Malcom who scored a game-high 30 points to go along with eight rebounds and six assists. Xavier Cannefax (18), Josh Thomas (16), Keaton Bankofier (11) and De'Jon Bowman (10) all finished in double figures, with Bowman notching the games sole double-double by grabbing 14 rebounds.
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Northwest Christian aims to bounce back next week when they return to their home court for a pair of top-25 opponents. Their first action is Friday, January 12, when they host the No. 9-ranked Southern Oregon Raiders at 7:30 p.m. in the Morse Event Center.
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