BOX SCORE
KIRKLAND, Wash.—Trailing by seven late in the game, Northwest made a final stand in the closing minutes to defeat Concordia 66-65 in Cascade Collegiate Conference men’s basketball action on Friday night.
With the result, both teams ended the night with 15-11 overall records but Northwest improved to 9-6 in CCC action while Concordia dropped to 5-10 in league contests.
Getting a quick start for CU,
Gage Aker buried a three out of the gate and was immediately followed by a Joudan Sweeney layup to give the Cavs an early 5-0 lead. Countering, the Eagles would responded with nine unanswered points from four different players to claim a 9-5 lead.
The Cavs retaliated with a 15-2 spree which was highlighted by three pointers from
Greg McFarland,
Alex Tiefenthaler and
Sergio Rosario, but the three-point shot would soon allow the Eagles back into the mix as a Blake Solmon strike with 4:54 left capped an Eagle fight to square the game at 22-22. Having already bent, Concordia would not break down the stretch, eventually settling for a 31-28 lead at the half with
Jason Holzwarth recording the final bucket of the period.
Just over a minute into the second half, Solomon would again jumpstart the Eagles, this time connecting from long range to put Northwest up for the first time since the opening minutes of play.
The two teams traded buckets over the course of the next five minutes before the Cavs made a move with 10 minutes to play. Capping a mini-streak for a 61-54 lead, Holzwarth struck with a three pointer of his to give the Cavaliers a seven-point advantage with 5:23 to play.
The Cavs would convert just one more field go the rest of the way as the Eagles stormed back to reclaim the lead with a Tyson Christie layup with 1:12 remaining for a 65-64 score.
Despite missing key free throws in the waning moments, Concordia maneuvered to take the final shot of the game to capture the win, but the jumper would harmlessly fell short and immediately scooped up by the Eagles’ Rich Skillman.
Tiefenthaler led the Cavs with 14 points on 6-of-12 shooting as the lone player in double figures for Concordia. Teammate McFarland added nine points and a game-high 11 rebounds to finish a single point shy of a ‘double-double’.
Soloman posted a game-high 19 points with 12 (4-of-8) coming via the three-point shot. Greg George added 15 points with a boost from a 5-of-6 performance from the free throw line.
Concordia finished with a 46.4 percent shooting night (25-of-56) compared to just 36.8 percent for the Eagles (25-of-68). Northwest enjoyed a 40-33 advantage in overall rebounds and turned the ball over on nine fewer occasions, 22 to 13.
Concordia wraps up its regular season road slate at Evergreen State on Saturday. Opening tip is set for 7:30 p.m. in Olympia, Wash.