Box Score

PALOS HEIGHTS, Ill. (Mar. 7, 2008) -- Northwestern College's seniors weren't ready to hang up their shoes yet, as the Eagles had one of their season's best shooting nights in an 86-69 win over Bethany Lutheran College.  Northwestern drew Bethany Lutheran, a team the Eagles had faced - and beaten - three times in 2007-08, in the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) regional semifinal.

Northwestern shot a whopping 59.0 percent for the game, and an even more impressive 61.1 percent from behind the 3-point line, making 11 of their 18 attempts.  Bethany, who kept pace with the Eagles in the first half, couldn't maintain their shooting in the final 20 minutes, as they finished with a still-respectable 45.8 percent shooting performance.

NWC led 44-39 after the first half, and Stephen Hanson (Plymouth, Minn./Maranatha)'s (Plymouth, Minn./Maranatha Christian Academy) lay-up with 16:56 to play gave the Eagles a double-digit lead at 53-42.  The Eagles' lead grew to as much as 19 throughout the game before Tim Grosz's squad called it a night with a 17-point final advantage.

Senior Josh Strelecki (Crystal Falls, MI/Forest Park) (Crystal Falls, Mich./Forest Park) couldn't miss, as he went 9-for-10 from the field and a perfect 2-for-2 from downtown to tally 20 points.  Strelecki entered the game 13 points shy of 1,000 points for his career at Northwestern and became the school's 20th player to reach that mark midway through the contest.

Hanson also finished with 20 points, going 8-of-13 from the floor and a perfect 3-for-3 from long range.  The sophomore brought down seven rebounds, matching his brother Daniel's (Plymouth, Minn./Maranatha Christian Academy) tally.  The elder Hanson recorded 18 points in the win,

Travis Priem ended his collegiate career at Bethany Lutheran (11-17) with a team-high 21 points.  Andy Wills added 17 in the loss.

With the win, Grosz and his Eagles hit the 20-win mark for the third consecutive year.  Northwestern's season will be on the line once again on Saturday at 3 p.m., when they battle with a physical Trinity Christian team on the Trolls' home court.  Saturday's winner will earn an automatic berth into the NCCAA National Tournament, which is scheduled to begin on March 18 in Oakland City, Indiana.