PORTLAND, Ore. – A balanced scoring attack sent Warner Pacific past Northwest Christian, 95-81, in a Cascade Conference Championships quarterfinal matchup tonight in Portland, presented by U.S. Bank.
 
The host Knights led nearly wire-to-wire, but had to withstand several rallies from NCU. The game looked to be a runaway for WPU after a 7-0 run in the first half gave the Knights a 29-15 lead with 9:42 left in the first half. The Beacons had other ideas and responded with seven straight of their own after a timeout, and the fight was on.

WPU never led by less than eight points in the second half, but the Beacons hung around. After Bell scored inside to make the score 87-70 in favor of the Knights, Michael Loomis scored five straight for NCU in an attempt at a final rally. WP could finally rest easy after a steal and thunderous dunk from Collin Malcolm that gave WP a 91-75 lead with 3:12 on the clock.
 
Malcolm scored 23 points to lead the 2nd seeded Knights, who shot 52 percent from the field during the win. Brandon Bell made an impact for the second game in a row off the bench, adding 18 points and seven rebounds.

The 7th seeded Beacons were paced by 32 points and 15 rebounds from Michael Loomis, who surpassed the 1000 point mark for his career late in the second half.
 
NCU ends the season with a 13-15 record, while WPU improves to 22-8.

Warner Pacific will host Oregon Tech in a semifinal game on Saturday, February 24 at 7pm.