EUGENE, Ore. – Stevie Schlabach became Bushnell's all-time leader for field goals on Friday night and posted a double-double to lead the Beacons to an 83-73 victory over Northwest University in Cascade Collegiate Conference Action.
 
An 18-4 run late in the second half broke open what had been a close game as Bushnell clamped down on defense and held the Eagles without a field goal for a ten-minute stretch. Trailing 66-63, Luke Smith tied the game on a three-pointer with just under ten minutes to play. Save for four free-throws, NU couldn't find a basket until the final minute of the game.
 
The game started much differently from how it finished as the visitors led by as many as seven points in the first half, the teams would end up tied five times and traded nine leads before Bushnell pulled away.
 
Head Coach Eddie Alexander said, "After NU smoked us in the first half by coming out so hot, we trusted our defense would improve and percentages would balance out. We had to play more physical in the post in the second half as NU was loading up on Spencer. He did a great job executing his post-ups and drawing a lot of attention in key moments."
 
The Beacons (9-12, 7-8 CCC) did a lot of damage at the free-throw line, scoring 24 of their points as they shot 92%. The were 46% from the field and hit seven three-pointers in the game, while claiming a13-5 margin in second-chance points off ten offensive rebounds.
 
Schlabach got his record-breaking field goal during the big second half run. It was the 536th basket of his career as he passed Hall of Famer Mitch Naylor for the record. His 20-point, 12-rebound night moves him to within 17 points of passing Naylor for third-place on Bushnell's all-time scoring list.
 
"Stevie had a great game tonight," said Alexander, "especially on the boards. I am proud of how he has really begun to rebound and play complete games."
 
Also contributing to the victory was Kaden Sand, scoring 15 points and Spencer Hoffman with 13 points and eight rebounds. Isaac Girley came off the bench to score 11 as the Bushnell reserves out-scored the Eagle bench, 23-18.
 
Northwest (7-13, 4-10) was led by Drew Bryson with 19 points. Coa Chatman and Lewis Pope scored 11 points apiece and tied for the game-high with four assists.
 
Bushnell will be back in action on Saturday, looking to move to .500 in conference as they take on The Evergreen State College (1-16, 1-13) at 5:00 pm.