EUGENE, Ore. – The Northwest Christian University men's basketball team was unable to complete a late comeback as they fell to Eastern Oregon 82-71 on Saturday night in the regular-season finale. 

Eastern Oregon started the game out hot, scoring the first eight points to give them an early lead. With ten minutes remaining in the first half, Ernest Ugoagu knocked down one of his three first half three pointers to give the Beacons their only lead of the game at 25-24. The Mounties countered to regain the lead before finishing the half on a 12-4 run.

After trailing 44-36, NCU was able to fight back and narrow the deficit to a one possession game at 74-71 with two minutes remaining in the game. The Mounties were then able to pull away closing the game on a 7-0 run to hold off the Beacons.

Ugoagu led the Beacons (14-16, 9-11 CCC) with a team-high 20 points on 7-of-15 shooting with five made threes. Senior Shawn Carson scored six points, seven rebounds and two blocks while Malik Corey tallied seven points. Riley Anderson scored ten points to lead the NCU bench to a 26-13 advantage. On the night, NCU shot 42% from the field with ten three pointers.

Max McCullough led Eastern Oregon (16-13, 10-10) with a game-high 24 points to go with five rebounds and four assists. Jamal Heckard tallied 17 points, seven assists, and six rebounds while Jared Schetzle racked up a double-double with 12 points and 14 rebounds. EOU outrebounded the Beacons 44-36, with 16 offensive rebounds.

The Beacons finish the regular season tied with Warner Pacific for sixth place, and earn the tie-break over the Knights to claim the sixth seed for the Cascade Collegiate Conference tournament. NCU will travel to face No. 3 seed Oregon Tech on Wednesday night at 7:00 pm.