NEWBERG, Ore. – Extending their season record to a perfect 7-0, the Northwest University Eagles got a combined 49 points from Ahmaad Cook and Jordan Call to spoil the George Fox University Bruins' home opener 88-70 in a non-conference men's basketball game Saturday night here at the Wheeler Sports Center's Miller Gym.

Sinking six of their first seven shots, the visiting Eagles raced out to a 14-2 lead as Cook hit a pair of three-pointers and a layup and Call canned back-to-back jumpers.  They extended that to 21-8 on a layup by Michael Greene with 12:46 left in the half before the Bruins finally got rolling to make a game of it.

Sean Atkins hit a layup to get the Bruins going, and Matt Zandbergen hit a pair of jumpers to cut the George Fox deficit to 21-16 with 8:40 to go.  After a Tyler Mendezona free throw, Jon Adrian came off the bench to drain a layup and three-pointer around a trey by A.J. Grant, capping a 16-1 run that gave the Bruins their first lead at 24-22 with 6:20 to play in the half.

Another basket by Zandbergen gave the Bruins a 32-29 lead with 3:18 remaining, but the Eagles rallied with an 8-0 run to go up 37-32 following a Cook crip shot with 37 seconds left.  The Bruins narrowed it to 37-35 at the break when Cam Rier calmly sank a three from the right wing as the clock expired. 

Rich Skillman opened the second half with a layup to put the Eagles up by four, but Mike Taylor sank all three free throws after being fouled on a long-distance try, then drove in to score for a 40-39 Bruin lead at the 18:29 mark.  Jason Waltman answered with a bucket for Northwest 27 seconds later, and the Eagles never trailed again.

Over the next six-and-a-half minutes, the Eagles out-scored the Bruins 14-4, eight of them by Call, to take a 55-44 lead with 12:29 to go.  Taylor finished a three-point play to bring the score back to 55-47, but the Bruins got no closer as the Eagles, shooting 50 per cent in the second half (17-34) pulled away.  The final score was the largest margin of the game.

Taylor and Adrian led the Bruins with 15 points, the latter establishing a career high by hitting 6-of-9 shots, including 3-of-4 on three-pointers.  Grant added 11 points and Zandbergen scored 10, making 5-of-6 from the field.  Spencer Bolte had six rebounds for the Bruins, who were out-rebounded 49-24.  Corey Clark handed out a career-high eight assists.  Atkins blocked four shots and Taylor added three rejections.

Cook and Call had 25 and 24 points respectively for the Eagles, Skillman chipped in with 13 points, and Greene added 10.  Waltman grabbed 18 rebounds, just missing a double-double with nine points, while Greene also missed a double-double by one rebound with nine.  Skillman passed out six assists and Cook had five.

NEXT: George Fox (0-2), which ironically dropped its season opener at Concordia University-Portland Friday by an identical 88-70 score, plays its third straight Cascade Collegiate Conference foe Tuesday at Corban University, with tipoff scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ... Northwest (7-0) hosts Linfield College Friday at 7:00 p.m.