Box Score PORTLAND, Ore. – Knocking off a nationally-ranked opponent for the first time in program history, the host Multnomah University Lions stunned the NAIA Division II's No. 21 team, the Eastern Oregon University Mountaineers, 86-74 in a Cascade Collegiate Conference men's basketball game Saturday night here at Lytle Gym.
The victory kept the Lions' hopes for the eighth and final spot in the CCC post-season tournament alive. Multnomah is now 4-14 in conference play, as is Evergreen State College, with Northwest University just ahead of them at 5-12. The Lions visit those two teams next weekend to close the regular season.
The early portion of the game gave no indication of the upset to come. After Multnomah took a 5-0 lead on a three-pointer by
Ben Grandle and a layup by
Darius Redrick, the Lions went ice-cold, missing 14 of their next 15 shots. The Mountaineers, meanwhile, went on a 23-5 tear that included five threes, Matt Wong's second three capping the outburst that made it 23-10 midway through the first half.
Tyler Walker ended the run with a three for the Lions , igniting a 20-7 stretch that finally earned a 30-30 tie on a trey by Grandle with 4:14 to go in the half.
Brett Blackstock added a free throw and a triple to break the tie, giving Multnomah a 34-30 lead, and they extended the margin to eight at 39-31 on a three by
Ben Schneiders with 1:25 left. Multnomah led 41-37 at the break after making 11 of their last 18 shots in the half.
Threes by
Jon Viles and Grandle and a jumper by Grandle upped Multnomah's lead to 10 at 49-39 to start the second half. Eastern rallied to tie the game twice, the second time at 51-51 on a layup by Austin Winegar with 15:11 left in the game, but the Mountaineers could never regain the lead. A Blackstock jumper broke the tie, and the Lions used an 11-0 run to take their biggest lead of the game at 79-60 with 6:17 left.
The Mountaineers would not go down without a fight, however, scoring eight in a row to trim the margin to 11 at 79-68 on a conventional three-point play by Cole Ashby with 4:07 to go. The MU lead was reduced to eight at 82-74 with 1:07 left on a Jordan May free throw, but the Lions iced the game with four free throws, one by Blackstock and then, with 28 seconds left, one by Redrick and two by Grandle following a technical foul called on EOU's Garrett Sawyer.
--- By the Numbers: Grandle led all scorers with 26 points for Multnomah, hitting five threes and 7-of-7 from the charity stripe, and just missed a double-double with nine rebounds. Redrick added 18 points and a game-high seven assists, while Blackstock did collect a double-double, his fourth of the year, with 13 points and 13 rebounds. Viles chipped in with 10 points. The Lions shot .500 (15-30) in the second half while EOU struggled with a .297 percentage (11-37) in that same span, and hit .439 (29-66) for the game.
Ashby led EOU with 14 points, Max McCullough scored 13 (8 below his league-leading average), and Winegar added 11. The Mountaineers finished with a .324 shooting mark (24-74). Winegar made it a double-double with 13 rebounds, while Peter Eke had a game-high 16 boards in leading EOU to a 54-42 rebound advantage. Eke and McCullough each passed out four assists.
Multnomah improved to 7-20 on the season, snapping a five-game losing skid, and 4-14 in the conference. Eastern Oregon slipped to 20-6 overall and 12-6 in the league.
--- Quoting MU coach Curt Bickley: "I am really impressed with our guys never quitting on this season. They were rewarded tonight with one of our best wins as an NAIA team. Darius led the way, and Ben and Brett had awesome nights. Good for them."
--- Next: Multnomah closes the regular season with two CCC road games next weekend, starting Friday at Evergreen State at 7:30 p.m. … Eastern Oregon hosts the Oregon Institute of Technology Friday at 7:30 p.m. for a conference contest … Both men's games will be preceded by women's games at 5:30 p.m.
