NORTHWESTERN COLLEGE EAGLES MEN'S BASKETBALL GAME HIGHLIGHTS
03 January 2009

Duren sparks Eagles' 69-62 victory over Gordon

	Final
NORTHWESTERN COLLEGE	69
GORDON COLLEGE	62

03 JANUARY 2009
STORY FROM NORTHWESTERN COLLEGE WEBSITE

ST. PAUL - Senior John Duren (Austin, Minn./Austin) had a career-high 21 points and six assists to lead the Northwestern College men's basketball team to a 69-62 win over Gordon College on Saturday afternoon. Gordon (7-2), which is on a two-game road trip that will continue at Crown College on Monday, was receiving votes in the latest D3Hoops.com Top 25 national poll. Northwestern is 3-1 all-time against the Fighting Scots.

Down by as much as nine points in the first half, Northwestern battled back to take the lead on a successful jumper by Duren with 4:38 to play in the initial period. The Eagles continued an eventual 17-point swing, ending the half on a lay-up by Reid Berens (Lino Lakes, Minn./Centennial) to give NWC an eight-point lead.

After Northwestern pushed the lead to as much as 14 points, Gordon chipped away at the Eagles' advantage and came within two points at 57-55 with just over five minutes remaining in the game. NWC kept the Scots at a short arm's length away, and preserved what turned out to be a 69-62 final score for its eighth win of the season.

Despite making only 25 percent of the team's shots in the first ten minutes of the game, Northwestern finished with a 42.1 percent success rate from the floor, while Gordon shot an even 41.0 percent. The Eagles also held a 40-35 advantage in rebounds.

Free throws might have made the difference for Northwestern, as an 18 for 20 performance from behind the charity stripe easily trumped the 60 and 50 percents that NWC shot from the same place in its last two games.

Duren, who returned to head coach Tim Grosz's squad this year after sitting out a year, went 7 of 10 from the floor while having an equally impressive performance on the defensive side, forcing three steals. Berens recorded a double-double in the Eagles' win, scoring 16 points while grabbing a game-best 12 rebounds. Stephen Hanson (Plymouth, Minn./Maranatha Christian Academy) chipped in 11 points for Northwestern.

Aaron Trigg led Gordon with 19 points, 12 of which came in the second half, while Benjamin Gaskill tallied 12 points and 11 rebounds for a double-double.

With the win, Northwestern improves its season record to 8-4 overall (1-1 UMAC). The Eagles will begin a full week of practice before hosting Martin Luther and Bethany Lutheran Colleges on Friday and Saturday of next week. Martin Luther will come to the Ericksen Center on Friday, Jan. 10, when the two teams will tip off at 7:30 p.m.