Beacons shine in home finale.

Byline: Chris Hansen The Register-Guard

Fresh off accepting its 12th postseason invitation in 13 seasons, Northwest Christian College got a taste Tuesday night of just how tournament ready it really is.

NCC BASKETBALL

The Beacons broke free of a tied game with a 9-2 run in the final 3 1/2 minutes to record a 67-60 victory against Pacific at the Morse Event Center.

"It was a great test," said post Chris Lohrey, who recorded a team-high 20 points and nine rebounds for the Beacons.

"I think having a close game like that will toughen us up a little bit and will be good for us in the tournament. We need to know how to handle the pressure."

A three-pointer by Jon Vinyard at the 3:35 mark gave NCC a 61-58 lead. After the Boxers cut their deficit to 61-60 on a jumper by Kellen Kaneshiro with 1:56 to play, Lohrey scored inside, and then he and Josh Harbert made two free throws each in the final 20 seconds to secure the win.

The victory was the Beacons' (14-10) fourth straight and 10th in their past 11 games - quite a turnaround from their 4-9 start to this season.

"We had a lot of new guys who just joined the team, including myself, and we needed time to learn the offense," Lohrey said. "But once we started gelling and the chemistry got there, we've been playing really well."

Northwest Christian has just one regular-season game left - this Saturday at Walla Walla (Wash.) College - before it begins its preparations for the United States Collegiate Athletic Association's 12-team tournament being held March 2-6 in Tulsa, Okla.

The Beacons lost in the championship game last season.

Statistically, the Beacons dominated the first half on Tuesday despite holding only a 36-31 lead at the break. They shot 59 percent from the field, held a 19-12 advantage on the boards and led by as many as 13 points on a few occasions.

However, the Boxers kept it close with the long ball. After falling behind 21-9, Pacific hit five consecutive three-pointers in a three-minute span that helped cut NCC's lead to 32-26.

The Beacons rebuilt their lead to 36-26 but twice fouled three-point shooters in the final 17 seconds and the Boxers made all but one free-throw attempt to get their deficit back down to five points.

Pacific eventually tied the game, 47-47, midway through the second half, and took its first lead of the game, 53-52, on a layup by Nat McBride at the 7:16 mark.

"That was good for us," NCC coach Dave Lipp said. "We didn't play particularly well, but a lot of that goes to Pacific, they took us down to the wire."

Harbert finished with 16 points off the bench, while Matt Simonson scored 15.

Pacific's Brad Krichevsky led all scorers with 24 points.

Women

Pacific 66,

Northwest Christian 48

Melissa Smith paced the Beacons with 13 points, while Stacy Ermini scored 10 to go with five assists in the hosts' final game of the season.

Though NCC outscored the Boxers 33-31 in the second half, it wasn't enough to make up for a 20-point deficit at halftime, or an 0-for-8 night from the three-point line, as the Beacons finished 3-21.