Eagles Soar to Verizon Team of the Week
LA GRANDE, Ore. – The Northwest men’s basketball team, which won three games over a six-day span and is tied for the conference lead, has been named the “Verizon Team of the Week” in the Cascade Collegiate Conference, the conference office announced Sunday.
“We appreciate the honor of being named team of the week,” Northwest men’s basketball head coach John Van Dyke said. “I feel we work had as a team. We don’t have a lot of standout players, but we think our body of work is greater than the sum of its parts. We just have outstanding team chemistry this season.”
The No. 11 Eagles (21-2, 11-2 CCC) have won five straight games, and six of the last seven with the lone loss coming by one-point to No. 1 Oregon Tech. NU picked up a win at home Monday over Northwest Christian in a game that was postponed due to weather-related delays around the conference. Four days later, Northwest won for the first time since 2007 at Eastern Oregon. The Eagles completed the week with a victory at The College of Idaho Saturday.
“In the shortened week, I thought our guys stuck with the plan and played well,” Van Dyke said. “We had little time to practice, but our guys practiced well. I’m proud of how we came out and performed.”
Monday, Northwest won the rescheduled game against Northwest Christian in Kirkland, 79-66. Rich Skillman led the Eagles with 22 points, nine rebounds, seven assists and five steals. Jordan Call and Ahmaad Cook added 17 and 14 points. NU shot 54 percent in the game and made eight of their 17 three-pointers. The Eagles held the edge in rebounding with 40-34.
Northwest then went to La Grande and picked up a 61-57 win at Eastern Oregon. The Eagles clinched their third consecutive 20-win season with the victory. In a game that featured three lead changes and eight ties, Northwest pulled out its first win in La Grande since 2007. Call led NU with 12 points. Jason Waltman, Cook and Tyler Mendezona each scored 10 points. Northwest held EOU to 3-of-17 shooting from behind the arc.
The following day, the Eagles erased a nine-point first half deficit to complete a season sweep of The College of Idaho, NU joined Oregon Tech and Warner Pacific in first-place with three weeks left in the regular-season. Cook and Call each scored 13 points, while Skillman and Ryan Dornik had 12 each.
“Our guys really like each other,” Van Dyke said. “They are really enjoying playing on the court with each other. We are having fun each day, not just enjoying the outcome of games. We’re just taking things one day at a time.”
Northwest returns home for its final two regular season games inside the NU Pavilion. The Eagles welcome Concordia Friday and No. 8 Warner Pacific Saturday.
“This is a big weekend coming up for us,” Van Dyke said. “Concordia is a tough team and coming off of a win over OIT. And, of course Warner Pacific will be ready to play.”
Previous Verizon Team of the Week awardees.