Box Score Northwest Christian hit seven of eight free throws inside the final 34 seconds Saturday night to hold off a challenge from The Evergreen State College in taking a hotly contested 89-85 Cascade Collegiate Conference men's basketball win at CRC Gymnasium.

The Beacons (13-4 overall, 7-1 CCC) won for the eighth time in their last night games, while the Geoducks (6-11, 3-6) came up short in their effort to knock off the No. 19 ranked team in NAIA Division II men's basketball.

The Beacons led for more than 34 minutes compared to just three minutes for the Geoducks, but the game was always close. Northwest Christian's largest lead came at nine points, 32-23, with 3:35 remaining in the opening half. Evergreen held a one point lead on three occasions in the first half, the last at 18-17 on a Brock Otis layup at the halfway mark of the period.

So even though the Beacons led throughout the entirety of the second half save for one tie, the Geoducks always stayed within reach. Adding to the intensity of the game was physical play from both teams that resulted in a total of 40 fouls, with three players fouling out before the game was over. Two technical fouls were also whistled against the Northwest Christian bench.

Evergreen whittled its deficit to one point at 61-60 when Taylor Drey drilled a three-point shot with 8:55 to play before tying the score at 77-77 on Danny Powell's layup with 2:46 on the clock.

Northwest Christian responded with six straight points on an Austin Kuemper three-point play, a layup by Kenny Blackwell and a Nick Sullivan free throw, the latter coming with 34 seconds remaining and putting the Beacons ahead, 83-77.

Otis hit a three on the other end of the floor, but the Beacons were able to ice the game with Blackwell hitting four free throws and Donta Harris adding two more, the final two by Blackwell making it an 89-82 game with 4.0 seconds to play.

Harris was huge off the bench for the Beacons with 19 points, including a 3-for-5 effort from three-point range. Jack Hackman was 5-for-6 from long range on the way to 19 points, while Omar Richard scored 14 and Kuemper and Blackwell 12 apiece. Kuemper tied for game-high honors with nine rebounds, and Blackwell led all players with 10 assists.

The Beacons shot 49 percent overall and were 9-for-18 from outside the arc, but perhaps the biggest statistic was foul shooting where they were 20-for-21.

Alix Hernandez was 8-for-12 from the field and 6-for-6 from the charity stripe on the way to a game-high 24 points for Evergreen, and he also led the team with five assists. Otis scored 21 points and Powell added 20 points, and a team-best nine rebounds.

The Geoducks shot 55 percent overall and 47 percent (9-for-19) from beyond the arc but lost the rebound battle, 34-25.

Evergreen returns to action at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 12, when it hosts the Northwest University Eagles in another conference game.