MISSION — Irvin Stewart poured in 29 points and hauled down 15 rebounds to lead Nixyaawii to a 74-51 victory over Echo on Thursday,  Feb. 5, to stay atop the Meacham Division of the Old Oregon League.

“When we play as a team, we are good at basketball,” Nixyaawii coach Aaron Noisey said. “We were balanced in scoring with four kids in double digits. It shows  that if you shut down one of us, someone else will step up.”

Nixyaawii (13-9 overall, 7-1 OOL) has two league games remaining — Saturday at Griswold and Feb. 12 at Imbler — and needs one win to win the Meacham half outright.

“I don’t want to put the cart before the horse,” Noisey said. “If my math is correct, we have to win one of our next two to solidify the top spot.”

The Golden Eagles took command of the game from the start, taking  a 24-8 lead in the first quarter, and 40-26 at the half.

Nixyaawii used a 34-25 run in the second half to secure the win.

“We had to mix up our defense a little bit and our kids responded well,” Noisey said. “It was a great team win for us.”

Kash Bronson added 17 points, seven rebounds and six assists for the Golden Eagles, while Keli Spencer had 14 points and six rebounds, and Jeffrey Van Pelt 10 points and seven rebounds.

Mack Murdock led the Cougars (10-12, 5-4) with 23 points, while Tyler Campbell had 13, and Owen Stafford and Kohlvin Wyse each had five.

“I knew we weren’t going to be able to shut down Mack Murdock,” Noisey said.  “Jeffrey did a good job on him. He had 23 points, but he had to work for them. We slowed him down.”