Kirkland, Wash. | Composure and tenacity was what the Warner Pacific University Men's Basketball team (14-12, 10-8) needed in order to leave Washington with a win tonight, as the Knights let an 18-point lead over the Northwest University Eagles (10-13, 7-11) slip through their fingers, but managed to hit the crucial shots down the stretch in their 89-86 win at Kristi Brodin Pavilion.
 
Similarly to the Women's Basketball matchup earlier today between the Knights and Eagles, the Men's Basketball teams matchup almost perfectly at every position, making for a very difficult matchup on both ends of the court. Despite a 10-point win earlier this season against Northwest in Portland, Warner Pacific was tested nearly the entire game before Coach Potts built a strategy to overcome the Eagles in the final minutes of the contest.
 
Tonight's matchup started in an eerily similar fashion, with both teams going shot-for-shot without either taking advantage of a possible run to extend an early lead. Just when the Eagles would start to find momentum, Warner Pacific would cut the lead back to one possession, or even take the lead on multiple instances.
 
The Knights have been able to grow upon an already expanded post-game over their last few outings, with starting senior forward Miles Brown taking advantage of his success from range on the outside of the key and behind the three-point line to force the ball into a cutting guard. Tonight was no different, as Brown saw plenty of opportunities early to go to work against a moderately young Eagles' post group.
 
However, it was the three-point shooting that proved to be the difference in the opening half, as the Knights scored on 46.7% of their attempts from beyond the arc. Most notably, Warner Pacific hit back-to-back threes before the halftime horn sounded, breaking a 41-all tie to take a 47-41 WPU lead into the locker room.
 
Northwest had shot extremely efficient from the floor in the first half, considered it was well above 50% of their field goals, so Warner Pacific taking a six-point lead after the first 20 minutes felt like quite the accomplishment for Coach Potts and the Knights.
 
After the Knights and Eagles exchanged a couple of buckets to open the second half, Warner Pacific jumped out in front thanks once again to their tremendous three-point shooting. Multiple Knights got in on the scoring action to drive the lead up to double-digits at 10 points, forcing Northwest to call their first timeout of the half.
 
When the Knights weren't scoring from range, senior center Christian Hodge came off the bench to make an immediate impact on both the offensive and defensive ends, nabbing his 10^th rebound with just over eight minutes of action still to come. His efforts resulted in multiple second-chance opportunities for Warner Pacific, resulting in their 77-59 lead with plenty of ball still to be played.
 
A quickly executed 9-2 run cut the WPU lead by seven-points, providing the Eagles with a glimmer of light to possibly complete the second half comeback. Just over five and a half minutes separated the Knights and their fifth consecutive win, holding a 79-68 lead with each possession becoming more crucial by the minute.
 
Another Northwest run of 13-4 by the Eagles started the raise of concern for Coach Potts and Knights' fans, as Warner Pacific had seen an 18-point lead vanish before their very eyes. The Eagles were coming off a tightly contested three overtime loss to Multnomah University last night, and the clutch baskets to cut this lead to just two points with under two minutes to go showed exactly why Northwest can hang with anybody in the Cascade Collegiate Conference.
 
After Knights' sophomore guard Tyrese Yussuf-Willis extended a once massive lead to three-points on a pair of free-throws following a technical foul with less than a minute remaining, the Eagles were able to force a must needed stop by Warner Pacific to gain possession in a one-score game, looking to tie an 89-86 score in favor of WPU.
 
With 7.7 seconds remaining Eagles' guard CaCoa Chatman took one final heave at the top of the three-point line to send this game into an overtime period, but came up just short, with the ball clanging off the front of the rim to provide the Knights with the 89-86 road victory.
 
Yussuf-Willis finished the evening with 16 points, thanks in part to his poise under pressure at the free-throw line by sealing the Knights' victory down the stretch on a perfect 10-of-10 from the stripe. Add nine assists and a pair of rebounds, and Yussuf-Willis cements Player of the Game accolades in Warner Pacific's win. Junior guard Thomas Miles scored 17 points off the bench to lead the Knights in scoring tonight.
 
Despite only scoring three points, Hodge played an immense role in the Knights' victory, hauling in a game-high 11 rebounds, which includes six offensive boards that resulted in WPU's 12-6 margin of second-chance points over Northwest.
 
Chatman scored 19 points and assisted seven times in the Eagles' efforts, hitting 50% of his three-point attempts to bring Northwest back into this conference rematch that had seemed decided for a majority of the night. Fellow guard Rayvaughn Bolton matched Chatman with 19 points of his own, adding eight assists and five rebounds in the same 35 minutes played.
 
Guard Tanner Davis played a complete game for Northwest, scoring a game-high 23 points to combine with his nine rebounds to fall one shy of a double-double. Davis scored on 11 of his 13 field goal attempts, leading all players that took more than ten shots from the field in field goal percentage.
 
Warner Pacific will return to Portland for another week of rest and preparation, as the Knights eye two crucial road matchups next weekend at Southern Oregon University and Oregon Tech on Friday and Saturday, respectively. The Southern Oregon game is slated for a 7:30pm PDT tipoff, whereas the OIT game will tipoff on Saturday earlier at around 5pm PDT. Both times are subject to change depending on the length of time taken with the Women's Basketball games to precede both matchups.
 
This will be the first matchup of the season for Warner Pacific and the southern conference schools, as the first weekend of games set in Portland was forfeited by the Knights due to Covid-19 protocols.