PORTLAND | An intense back-and-forth contest for the Warner Pacific University Men's Basketball team (6-4, 2-1) and NCAA DIII Willamette University (3-5, 0-2) fell just out of reach for the Knights, as they dropped tonight's non-conference battle at home by a final of 95-98.
 
After the Bearcats jumped out to an early 7-0 lead, the Knights remained steadfast and shortly tied the game at 15-15, before jumping out in front for their first lead of the game with thirteen minutes remaining in the first half.
 
The Knights would go on to hold the Bearcats scoreless for the next six minutes, extending their lead up to 27-15 before Bearcats' Jack Boydell broke the scoreless streak.
 
Willamette steadily chipped away at the WPU lead for the remainder of the first half, closing the gap to just four points before the midway mark. Knights' sophomore guard Tyrese Yussuf-Willis struggled initially on the offensive-side for WPU, but closed out the first twenty minutes as the leading scorer with 14 points on 4 of 7 shooting from the field.
 
The second half proved to be an absolute offensive slugfest for both squads, as WPU and WU each hit at least 50% of their field goals through the final twenty minutes of play. With such a tight game down the stretch, a total of 27 free throws between both teams were shot in the second half, and only four of those did not fall, proving to be a highly efficient game all-around.
 
With a ten-point lead with just under fourteen minutes to go, the Knights would hold the last double-digit lead of the game, and neither side would see more than a four-point lead for the last thirteen minutes. This contest would ultimately come down to which team would have the best possession with minimal time remaining, which the Bearcats had coming their way.
 
With four seconds remaining in a tied game, Bearcats' forward Cedric Coward hit a fading layup moving away from the basket, and added a free throw from a Knights foul on the shot to put Willamette up three points with very little time for Warner Pacific to capitalize on.
 
On one final attempt, Yussuf-Willis crossed half-court and pulled up just in front of the three-point line, but his shot clanged off the front of the rim, ending the Knights' chances at sending this game to extra minutes.
 
While he wasn't able to hit the last basket, Yussuf-Willis still scored a game-high 24 points for Warner Pacific, and dealt out a game-high six assists as well. Senior forward Justice DeCorsi had an incredibly consistent night for WPU, scoring 20 points on 8 of 9 shooting from the field to dominate the paint and adding seven rebounds, even though foul trouble caused him to sit out a majority of the first half.
 
Coward scored 22 points in a starting role for Willamette, collecting a game-high eight rebounds along the way to lead the Bearcats to victory. Guard Jonathan Watts dropped 12 of his 23 points late in the second half, hitting some crucial shots for WU when they needed it most.
 
The Knights will take a weeklong break to prepare for their jump back into conference play, as they will host the Northwest University Eagles and Evergreen State University Geoducks next Friday and Saturday, respectively. The December 17^th contest with the Eagles is slated for a 7:30pm PST start time, while the December 18^th game with the Geoducks is set to tip-off at 5pm PST.