PORTLAND | A complete team effort is exactly what WPU Men's Basketball Head Coach Jamayne Potts was looking for in order for his team to pull off the home win tonight, as the Warner Pacific University Men's Basketball team (10-12, 6-8) defeated crosstown rival Multnomah University (8-14, 4-10) on their home court to complete the season sweep over the Lions, 88-76.
 
After the Knights and Lions traded bucket for bucket for the first five minutes of the game, the Knights would take the lead at the 14:30 minute mark, and never look back, holding their lead for the remainder of the contest, despite some close calls on multiple occasions.
 
The lead grew and shrunk over the course of the first half, with the Knights holding what felt like a slim seven-point advantage heading into the halftime pause, with the Lions matching Warner Pacific run-for-run to keep within striking distance of a possible comeback victory on the road.
 
Sophomore guard Tyrese Yussuf-Willis came off the bench to lead WPU at the break, scoring nine points on 3 of 5 field goal shooting with a pair of rebounds, accounting for nearly a quarter of Warner Pacific's point totals for the half.
 
Multnomah took advantage of a halftime lineup change to bleed the WPU lead down to just five points a mere minute and a half into the second half, thanks in part to a wild "and-one" four-point play from Lions' guard Zach Richardson on a highly contested three-point attempt.
 
However, this would be the closest the Lions would see a potential comeback bid come to fruition in the second half, as Coach Potts immediately called a timeout to regroup his team and realign their path to victory. A few moments later, Warner Pacific's lead was back to double-digits.
 
With the Knights and Lions trading baskets for the next ten minutes of play, it left Multnomah looking for new alternatives on the defense end in order to force stops and cut into the Warner Pacific lead. Much to their dismay, the new defensive structure did quite the opposite of what MU were looking to accomplish, with WPU stretching the lead all the way to 19 points at the 4:27 minute mark, and seamlessly putting this contest on ice.
 
Despite a rather concerning 16-9 run that Multnomah ended the game on, Warner Pacific was able to break through the full-court press on all but one crunch-time possession to allow open layups, leading to their eventual 88-76 victory over the Lions.
 
Yussuf-Willis finished the evening with a team-high 17 points, shooting above 50% by scoring on 6 of his 11 attempts from the field, and tacking on a game-high five assists to add to his season totals. Freshman guard Nigel McKay came two rebounds shy of a double-double, recording 16 points and eight boards in a reserve role for Coach Potts' Knights.
 
Lions' post-player Tyrese Taylor continues to be an absolute threat to be reckoned with in the CCC, scoring 19 points and hauling in 14 rebounds for his 8^th double-double of the season. Fellow teammate and post-player Terin Johnson matched Taylor's game-high scoring total with 19 points of his own, adding four rebounds and a pair of blocks to his efforts on the evening.
 
The Knights will return to action this Friday when they play host to the Walla Walla University Wolves, following the completion of the WWU vs WPU Women's Basketball game. That game is slated to begin promptly at 2pm PDT. As a reminder, Warner Pacific University has made the decision to not allow outside fans for the upcoming week of home games, in an attempt to lower the increase in recent COVID-19 cases. All games will be available for free at www.wpuknights.com.