Box Score EUGENE, Ore. –
Max Upchurch poured in 29 points for Multnomah University, including seven three-pointers, but he and the Lions were upstaged by Michael Loomis' 48 points with 12 threes and 18 rebounds that carried the Northwest Christian University Beacons to a 93-75 Cascade Collegiate Conference men's basketball victory Saturday night here at the Morse Event Center.
Loomis started for NCU and had a putback and a three-pointer in the Beacons' 14-5 run to open the game, their largest lead of the first half. Upchurch came off the bench for Multnomah and nailed his first basket, a three, that cut the Beacons' lead to 14-10 with 12:08 left in the half. Upchurch drained another trey at the seven-minute mark that capped a 17-7 outburst that gave the Lions their first lead at 22-21. Loomis and Upchurch swapped threes again before a
Darius Redrick free throw and a
Ben Grandle triple gave Multnomah its largest lead at 29-24 with 4:44 left.
NCU rallied to force two ties before a
Beau Shockley layup with 32 seconds left gave the Lions their final lead of 36-34. Loomis, however, answered with a three with four seconds to go as NCU took a slim 37-36 edge into the locker room. Loomis finished the first half with 20 points while Upchurch knocked down 16, each of them having sunk four threes.
Davonte Cleveland for NCU and
Jon Viles for MU traded threes to open the second half before the home team began to pull away. It was simply a case of the Beacons making their shots and the Lions missing theirs in the final 20 minutes, as NCU shot .514 (19-37), including 12-of-24 on three-pointers, while Multnomah managed only a .372 percentage (16-43) and only 5-of-25 from long range.
Loomis hit a triple at 14:06 to give NCU its first 10-point lead of 53-43, and the Beacons stretched it 18 at 72-54 on another bomb from Loomis at 7:55. Upchurch's three at 4:47 drew the Lions back within 10 at 74-64, but they could get no closer. Loomis put in 14 of his second-half 28 in the final 4:19 as NCU pulled away to an eventual 21-point lead. Upchurch, who had 13 in the second half, ended the scoring with a three at the buzzer.
--- By the Numbers: Upchurch (11-22 from the field, 7-16 on threes) got help from Grandle, who just missed a double-double with 15 points and nine rebounds.
Brett Blackstock added nine points and eight boards as Multnomah held a 46-44 edge on the glass, and Redrick chipped in with nine points. Blackstock also passed out six assists.
Loomis (16-31 from the floor, 12-24 on threes) was joined in the scoring column for NCU by Austin Tyner with 12 and Cleveland with 11. Kenny Blackwell handed out eight assists, and he and Cleveland had two steals apiece.
Multnomah fell to 6-19 on the season and 3-13 in the conference, while Northwest Christian evened its overall slate at 11-11 and moved to 7-8 in the league.
--- Next: Multnomah returns home to host the College of Idaho Friday at 7:30 p.m. … Northwest Christian goes to the Oregon Institute of Technology Saturday for a 6:00 p.m. CCC game … Each will be preceded by CCC women's games, Multnomah and C of I at 5:30 p.m. and NCU-OIT at 4:00 p.m.
