PORTLAND, Ore.—Lewis & Clark College men's basketball celebrated their six seniors prior to their regular-season finale and then gave themselves another reason to celebrate, with a playoff-clinching 92-83 win over Willamette University on Senior Night. 
 
THE BASICS 
 
Lewis & Clark 92, Willamette 83 
(Lewis & Clark 13-12, Northwest Conference 9-7)
(Willamette 15-10, 10-6 NWC) 

HOW IT HAPPENED 
 
Lewis & Clark's six seniors combined for 70 points on Saturday to ensure that they would have a chance to defend their Northwest Conference Tournament Title. Before the game, men's basketball honored seniors Taien Jackson, Andre Treadwell, Kody Uyesugi, Khalil Glover-Dodson, Justin White and TJ Muhammad. The group have combined to win 47 games across their four season and earned back-to-back trips to the NWC Tournament for the first time since the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons. 
 
With the win, Lewis & Clark clinched the fourth and final playoff spot to next week's Northwest Conference Tournament. For the second-straight year, #4 Lewis & Clark will take on #1 and NWC Regular-Season Champion Whitworth University in the NWC Semifinals. Last season, #4 Lewis & Clark upset #1 Whitworth 71-64 en-route to winning their first NWC Tournament Title since 2002. 
 
Treadwell outscored the Northwest Conference's leading scorer, Willamette's Tanner Overby (15 points), and everyone else on Saturday. The senior poured in 25 points on 8-13 shooting and went 5-8 from beyond the arc. 
 
Jackson added 16 points on 7-8 shooting and added six rebounds. White chipped in 15 points, seven rebounds, two assists and a steal and played 16 minutes in the second half with four fouls. Uyesugi was the fourth and final senior to finish in double-figures. Uyesugi chipped in 11 points on 4-8 shooting and tacked on two assists and a steal. 
 
Junior Yigit Arcan piled on 13 points on 6-6 shooting from the free-throw line. 
 
Lewis & Clark dominated Willamette in the opening half. After going down 5-2 early, Lewis & Clark built a double-digit lead thanks to a 23-9 run. The River Otters hit five 3-pointers during the span to take a 24-15 lead with 10:03 to go before halftime. 
 
The hosts would expand their lead to as many as 17 before the break. Uyesugi capped off the scoring with a 3-pointer with 43 seconds left in the half to give Lewis & Clark a 39-22 edge. 
 
Willamette would find their scoring touch in the second half with 61 points but Lewis & Clark would keep the visitors at bay with 53 points of their own. 
 
Lewis & Clark looked like they would run away with the game early in the half as they stretched their lead to 49-26 with 17:29 to play. Treadwell and White combined for three 3-pointers in the opening 2:21 and scored all 10 of the team's points. 
 
Willamette managed to trim the deficit to 12 (49-37) with 15:04 to play but Lewis & Clark responded with back-to-back threes from Joe Brown and Uyesugi to push the lead back to 18. 
 
The visitors crept to within seven at the midway point of the half. Willamette used an 11-2 run to cut the deficit to 59-52 with 10:32 to play. Jackson hit a jumper for Lewis & Clark but the Bearcats came back with a basket of their own to once again come within seven. White and Arcan each hit two free throws to stretch the lead back to 11. After another Willamette basket, Arcan (four) and sophomore Donovan Beard (two) went on a 6-0 run to make it 71-56 with 8:13 to play. 
 
Willamette failed to get closer than 10 points until the final 63 seconds, as Lewis & Clark held off the late charge to clinch the playoff spot. 
 
BY THE NUMBERS 

• Lewis & Clark shot 50.8 percent (31-61) from the field, 54.5 percent (12-22) from deep and went 18-24 (75 percent) from the free-throw line. 
• Muhammad and Glover-Dodson made their first and second starts of the season. Muhammad posted three points and one rebound in a season-high 12 minutes. Glover-Dodson chipped in three rebounds in 14 minutes of action. 
• Lewis & Clark held Overby to 15 points on 6-15 shooting. The NWC's leading scorer, who came in averaging 25 points per game, started the game 1-9 and had just three points in the first half. 
• Treadwell posted 25 or more points for the fifth time this season. He wraps up the regular-season fourth in the NWC with his 18.8 points per game. 
• Sophomore Marcus Bast notched a team-high four assists and added five rebounds. He ranks second in the NWC with 4.9 assists per game.  

WHO'S NEXT 
 
#4 Lewis & Clark will take on #1 Whitworth on Friday in Spokane in the NWC Semifinals. Start times for Friday's Semifinals and Saturday's NWC Championship Game have not been announced.