Wolves Take Down Lions in Nail Biter Finish for First CCC Win!

1/24/2016 1:01:00 PM

Box Score

PORTLAND, OR. - The Walla Walla University Wolves (3-17, 1-12) make history as they get their first Cascade Conference win with a nail biter finish, to defeat the Multnomah University Lions (4-14, 1-9) by a score of 82-80.

To open the game, the Wolves came out strong, but the Lions would not back down on their home court. They answered Walla Walla's play with some strong play of their own in a very close, back and forth, opening half. The largest lead of the first half was just 8 points by the visiting Walla Walla team. The first half would come to an end with Multnomah cutting the lead down to just two points to make the score 41-39, Walla Walla on top, heading into halftime.

Ryan Spady led the way for the Wolves in the first half with 10 points and 5 rebounds and Chad Torkelsen added 9 points, 2 assists, and 2 steals.
Blake Updike would lead the game, as well as the Lions, in points with 17 to keep Multnomah close to Walla Walla heading into the second period.

In the second half, the Multnomah Lions would lead the Wolves for the majority of the period and create a lead as high as 8 points. However, the game was very close and Walla Walla refused to let the game slip away.

With about 2 minutes left in the game, the Lions led 75-74.

The Wolves had possession of the ball and made it count as Ethan Osias passed the ball to Chad Torkelsen who hit a clutch 3-Pointer to give Walla Walla a 77-75 lead with just 1:34 remaining in the game.

After a Multnomah timeout, Walla Walla's defense would force a turnover and steal the ball, resulting in a Ryan Spady lay-up to give the Wolves a 79-75 lead with just over a minute remaining. The very next play Lions' Jordan Paris drove in the lane, got fouled, and went to the line for two. Paris would make both free throws to make the game 77-79. Wolves' Ryan Spady immediately answered Paris with an And-1 lay-up on the other side. Spady made his free throw to give Walla Walla some breathing room with an 82-77 lead.

Although the Lions came right back with a big time 3-Pointer from Ben Grandle to make the score 80-82 with 49 seconds to go.

Multnomah had key opportunities in the closing seconds to grab rebounds off of Walla Walla's missed free throws, but could not bring in the boards when they needed to most. With one final possession, to either tie or win the game, Multnomah missed a game winning 3-Pointer as time expired to let Walla Walla University leave Portland with an 80-82 win, in a very close and hard fought battle.

Ryan Spady of the Wolves had a game high 32 points along with 10 rebounds and Chad Torkelsen finished with 14.
Blake Updike finished the game with 30 points for the Lions and Ben Grandle added 18.

At 2pm on Friday, January 29^th, Walla Walla will host Corban University at Whitman College.

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