KIRKLAND, Wash. – The Evergreen Geoducks put up a valiant effort early but the Northwest Eagles were victorious when the final buzzer sounded, winning 87-73 in a Cascade Conference men’s basketball game on Saturday night at NU Pavilion in Kirkland, Wash.

The Geoducks came out ready to play in the first half, leading the nationally-ranked Eagles, 14-8, just over five minutes into the game.  Northwest tied it up at the 12:42 mark on a second-chance jumper in the paint by Michael Russo.  Evergreen kept it tight as the two teams traded leads for most of the half until NU extended the lead late, taking the 44-32 advantage into the break.

In the second half, the Geoducks came out fighting yet again as Evergreen matched NU nearly point-for-point.  Unfortunately for Evergreen, the host Eagles never let the Geoducks get close enough to be in contention for the win as Northwest earned the 87-73 win.

Evergreen was led by a game-high 23 points from Kyle Calhoun (Seattle, Wash./HazenHS/Marshalltown CC).  Marc Taylor (Boise, Idaho/Skyview HS/Edmonds CC) added 14 points to go with nine rebounds while Jordan Dam (Tacoma, Wash./Wilson HS/Centralia CC) added 12 points in the loss.  The Geoducks shot 42.0% on the night, making 29-of-69 attempts from the field.

Northwest was led by 16 points from Russo.  Ryan McIntosh added 15 while Michael Greene finished with 14 points for the Eagles.  Dak Shagren came off the bench to score 13 points as the NU bench outscored Evergreen, 35-16.

The Geoducks return to Olympia for the first time in 2014 on Friday night when they play host to nationally-ranked Southern Oregon.  Tip with the Raiders, currently ranked second in the NAIA DII Top 25, is set for 7:30 p.m. at CRC Gymnasium in Olympia, Wash.

Box Score