Box Score KIRKLAND, Wash. – Nemanja Grujicic scored 15 points as Northwest University shocked the No. 3 College of Idaho 66-60 on senior night to close out the 2014-15 regular season.
The Eagles (16-14, 6-12) shot 39-percent from the field but forced 17 turnovers while committing just eight of their own in the contest.
Jordan O'Byrne led the Coyotes (25-5, 14-4) with a game-high 19 points, including five triples in 25 minutes of action.
Both teams swapped leads throughout the opening period with five ties, but a Tomas Ogbaslassie 3-pointer just before the buzzer gave the Eagles a 34-32 halftime advantage.
Northwest opened the second half on a 6-2 spurt to push the lead to a game-high six points. C of I hung around and grabbed their first lead of the final period with 13:09 remaining on a Demetrius Perkins triple.
Marko Kovacevic tipped in two of his 10 points with 4:39 remaining as the Coyotes took their final lead of the contest at 55-53.
Trailing by five with 44 seconds remaining, O'Byrne cut the deficit to two points on a deep 3-ball but the Coyotes were unable to score in the final two possessions of the game.
Perkins scored 16 points to go along with five rebounds, but the senior guard fouled out in the final minutes of the contest.
C of I got points from just seven players on the night and forced a season-low two steals.
Both teams struggled from 3-point territory as the Eagles made 6-of-23 from deep as opposed to the Coyotes knocking down 6-of-24.
Despite the win, Northwest saw their season end as they were eliminated from the postseason on a tiebreaker with Eastern Oregon and Oregon Tech.
C of I had an opportunity to win the conference championship outright but will have to settle for a three-way split of the title with Concordia and Warner Pacific.
The Coyotes will go into the conference tournament as both the defending champion and No.1 seed and will play host to Oregon Tech in the quarterfinals on Wednesday the 25th, at 7 p.m. inside the J.A. Albertson Activities Center.
