PORTLAND | The Warner Pacific University Men's Basketball team (8-4, 4-1) just keeps finding ways to win, as they defeated the Evergreen State University Geoducks (1-8, 1-4) tonight by a final score of 86-81 in their final home game of the 2021 calendar year. In the process, WPU improved to 4-1 in conference games this season, and will head to the Christmas break in a four-way tie for 2^nd place in the conference standings.
 
The Knights and Geoducks battled for 40 straight regulation minutes Saturday night, with neither team willing to bend until the final few minutes of play. Tonight's contest featured eight ties and six different lead changes, with it's final lead change coming when the Knights started to take control with eight minutes remaining in the 2^nd half.
 
Despite the Knights stretching their lead to 12-points with less than two minutes remaining, the Geoducks scratched and clawed their way back to within three points in a minute span, and saw themselves in a one possession game. Unfortunately for Evergreen State, Warner Pacific was able to convert on their free throws down the stretch, as the Knights went on to clinch their 8^th win of the season in front of the WPU faithful.
 
Warner Pacific saw a majority of their success coming from beyond the arc, hitting 14 three-pointers tonight on 42.4% shooting. The Geoducks both outrebounded (44-35) and scored more points in the paint (36-32) than the Knights, yet a late Knights' run would prove to be their undoing, despite a last-ditch effort. WPU's bench outscored their opponents' bench yet again this season, scoring 38 points compared to the Geoducks' 20 points off the bench.
 
The Knights were led once again this season in scoring by senior guard Isaac Etter, who continues to torch conference opponents on both the offensive and defensive sides of the court. Etter scored 25 points on 50% shooting from the field, hitting half of the Knights' three-point attempts at 7 of 11 attempts from behind the three-point line. Etter's lockdown defense forced the Geoducks to find other outlets of offense outside of their starting lineup, yet Evergreen State could not find a reliable answer.
 
Knights' senior guard Drew Magaoay continues to hold the role of "ol' reliable" for Warner Pacific, as he scored 16 points with five rebounds and five dimes to couple together with a pair of steals on the evening. Magaoay's 6 of 7 shooting led the Knights in shooting percentage, which is to be expected of the extremely consistent senior leader.
 
Evergreen State's guard Austin Curry was one of two Geoducks to find any consistent success on offense against the Knights, scoring a game-high 34 points on 12 of 21 shooting from the field, and added a game-high 15 boards for an impressive road game double-double. Guard Lane Kennedy was the "Yin" to Curry's "Yang", scoring 17 points and adding 9 rebounds to come a single board away from his own double-double.
 
The Knights will return to action shortly after the anticipated holiday weekend, as they will travel to play NCAA DIII Linfield University on Tuesday, December 28^th, at 7pm PST in their final non-conference test before completely diving into the rest of the conference schedule.