SALEM, Ore. – Lewis & Clark College men's basketball erased a nine-point first-half deficit and tied the game with 30 seconds left in the game, but Willamette University made a field goal with 0.8 seconds left on the clock to avoid the upset and secure a 78-76 win in the season finale for both teams.     
 
THE BASICS
 
Willamette 78, Lewis & Clark 76
(Lewis & Clark 6-19, 2-14 NWC)
(Willamette 14-10, 9-7 NWC)
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
 
Junior Mikey Medlock Jr., senior Nikko Echalas, and sophomore Kody Uyesugi led the Pioneers in double digits, and all nine players that saw minutes made at least one field goal on Saturday.
 
Medlock Jr. led all players with 18 points and grabbed five rebounds while making seven of the team's eight free throws.
 
Echalas and Uyesugi were second on the team with 16 points each. Echalas shot 7-11 from the floor with three assists and a block. Uyesugi went 4-5 from long range with four rebounds.
 
After a close first five minutes of the game, Willamette turned a 15-14 lead into a 23-14 lead two minutes later. Sophomore Sidney Jones (4 points) made a hook shot in the paint to break the Bearcats' scoring run.
 
Uyesugi hit a trey at 7:28 to cut the deficit to 34-31. Willamette went on a 10-5 run to go up eight, 44-36 with four minutes left in the half. Sophomore Taien Jackson made a layup, followed by back-to-back three-pointers by Uyesugi and Medlock Jr. to tie the game at 44 at the two-minute warning. The Bearcats hit a jumper to take a 46-44 lead into halftime.
 
A jumper by junior Sebastian DePrez (6 points/6 rebounds), followed by an Echalas three, gave Lewis & Clark their largest game lead at 14:45 in the second half. Willamette regained the lead 70 seconds later but would not lead by more than five points for the remainder of the game.
 
Medlock Jr. tied the game at 62 with 11 minutes left, scoring his 16^th point of the game. Uyesugi's 16^th point cut the Willamette lead to 71-70 with 7:11 on the clock.
 
Junior Sam Henderson (4 points) made a jumper with a minute left in the game to pull within two points, 76-74. Henderson then grabbed his third rebound on the opposite end of the floor. Echalas found DePrez down low, whose layup tied the game with 30 seconds left. With the clock winding down, Willamette's Josiah Frank pulled up for a jump shot that bounced around on the rim and fell through the net with 0.8 seconds on the clock. After a Lewis & Clark timeout, the Pioneers could not control the inbound pass, and time expired.   
 
BY THE NUMBERS 

• Medlock Jr. led the team with 296 points and 11.8 ppg this season. Combined with his 566 points at Peninsula, Medlock Jr. has 862 career points heading into his senior season.
• Junior Nate Berg finished the season third in the NWC with 23 total blocks
• Junior Isaac Ticeson finished tied with DePrez with a game-high six rebounds and was fourth on the team with eight points against the Bearcats.
• Uyesugi finished the season 46-107 (43.0%) from three-point range to lead the team.

WHO'S NEXT
 
Lewis & Clark graduates two seniors and expects to return 13 players next season.