EUGENE, Ore. — The Walla Walla Men's Basketball team trailed by as much as nine points late in the second half and were able to cut it to within two, but Bushnell escaped with a home 83-77 Cascade Conference victory on Saturday.

The Beacons extended their lead to 73-64 with 5:23 to go in the game. The Wolves rallied on an 11-4 run capped by a Soren Dalan free throw with 1:22 remaining. Bushnell scored six of the final eight points to earn the win.

Walla Walla dropped to 0-14 overall and 0-8 in conference play. The Beacons improved to 8-7 on the season and 5-3 in CCC play.

Reese Snellman had his best performance with the Wolves and filled up the stat sheet. Snellman had a season-high 20 points with eight assists, eight rebounds and three steals. Chike Ezeonu added 15 points and JT Fenz finished with 10 points.

Soren Dalan scored 24 points, nine rebounds and a career-high five blocks. Dalan pushed his career point total to 833 and passed Chad Torkelsen (811) for 10th all-time in career points since the Wolves joined the NAIA in 2009. The junior is one point behind Caleb Golden for ninth all-time and 11 points behind former player and assistant coach Tyreek Luckett for the eighth spot.

Walla Walla had a strong first half and led by as many as eight points. The Wolves shot 20-of-36 (55.6%) in the first 20 minutes. WWU worked hard inside and scored 42 points in the paint.

Kaleb Burnett led the Beacons with 30 points and 14 boards. Cory Johnson added 17 points and Roy Bunn finished with 14 points. 

The Wolves held Bushnell to 41.9% (37-of-74) shooting. The home team edged out Walla Walla 42-40 in rebounds, but scored 16 points on 16 forced turnovers.

UP NEXT

Windemuth Court will be busy next weekend as Walla Walla returns home to take on Evergreen State on Friday and Northwest on Saturday.

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