PORTLAND | After enduring 40 minutes of grueling back-and-forth action, the Warner Pacific University Men's Basketball team (7-4, 3-1) decided that wasn't enough conference basketball for a Friday night. WPU was able to convert on a game-tying layup with less than 10 seconds remaining, and forced an overtime period that they went on to takeover in order to come out on top against the Northwest University Eagles (5-4, 2-2) by a final score of 96-86.
 
Credit goes due to an incredibly feisty and resilient Northwest squad tonight, as they rostered only eight players tonight due to being short-handed and yet still forced a rejuvenated Knights squad into an overtime situation. The Eagles were able to trade shots with Warner Pacific all night long, yet the answers fizzled out in the overtime period, where the Knights outscored Northwest 14-4.
 
In a game that featured 12 lead changes and five ties, it's inconceivable to imagine that Northwest's largest lead of the evening was a two-point margin with a single minute left in the 2^nd half, while the Knights grew their lead as high as 14 points before the Eagles began to chip away in the 1^st half.
 
Each team dominated in one area or the next tonight, as Northwest's squad saw a majority of their success come in the paint, outscoring WPU 46-34, while slightly outrebounding the Knights at 43-41. The Eagles struggled from beyond the three-point arc, shooting a lowly 26.1% from three, and connecting on only six opportunities for the elongated matchup.
 
Meanwhile, Warner Pacific caught fire from outside the three-point line, shooting 41.7% from the field for three, and hitting big play after play to force the Eagles into uncomfortable circumstances. The Knights' bench players proved to be the difference maker for either crew tonight, as they outscored the NU bench 52-16.
 
Warner Pacific's first-year freshman guard Nigel McKay scored a career-high 19 points on 50% shooting from the field, and an even more impressive 5 of 7 from three-point range. McKay also led the Knights in steals with three on the evening, and came down with three boards as well to lead the five Knights in double figures. Senior forward Kaleb Tompkins came one rebound shy of a double-double, scoring 16 points off the bench and hitting 66.7% of his shots to lead the team in average alongside fellow Knights' senior guard Drew Magaoay.
 
Magaoay came just within grasp of an extremely rare triple double, as he scored 13 points and led the team in assists with seven dimes, all while bringing down another seven rebounds to come six stats away from the highly sought after statistical feat. He now leads the team at 5.3 rebounds per game, and sits at third on the roster in points scored at 10.6 per game.
 
Northwest's guard Rayvaughn Bolton had arguably the best game of his collegiate career against the Knights, scoring a career-high 30 points for the Eagles, all while bringing down a dozen boards for one of three Eagles' double-doubles tonight. Forward Daniel Sharpe was busy in the post for NU, scoring 22 points and gathering 11 rebounds, while guard Devante Powell countered Sharpe out on the wing to score 13 points with 10 rebounds, scoring half of the Eagles' three-pointers for the game.
 
Warner Pacific Men's Basketball will return to conference play tomorrow night, as they host the Evergreen State University Geoducks at 5pm PST at C.C. Perry Gym. This will be the final home game on the slate for Warner Pacific in 2021 before playing five straight road games post-Christmas break.