Feb. 1 NWC Men’s Basketball Wrap (Stories provided by host SID office)

Lewis & Clark 81, at Puget Sound 72

Tacoma, Wash. -- The Loggers couldn't stop the inside game of Lewis & Clark Pioneers falling 81-72 in Northwest Conference action Saturday night in Tacoma.

 The Pioneers’ tandem of Colin Oriard and Kristofer Speier combined for 55 of Lewis & Clark's 81 points.  Oriard was 10-15 from the floor including a pair of three-pointers and 11-13 from the line for 33 points.  Oriard was also dominating on the boards with 13 rebounds.  Speier hit for 22 points and pulled down 5 rebounds.

The Loggers started slowly trailing by 9 points 17-8 at 13:15 of the first half but closed the gap thanks to 13 first-half points by freshman Zach McVey.  Puget Sound overcame the deficit and took a 37-32 advantage at intermission.

The lead was gone at the 18:20 mark as the Pioneers took charge at 38-37 and never trailed again in the game although their biggest margin of the second half was the 9-point winning margin when the Loggers were forced to foul.  With just one minute to go the Loggers were within 4 points 74-70 before Oriard took control scoring 7 points in the final 41 seconds.

The Loggers shot 45% (27-60) from the floor led by Aubrey Shelton's 21 points while Chase Curtiss added 17 and McVey 15 points.  Puget Sound was 9-10 from the line while the Pioneers were 17-20 from the stripe.

The Loggers are now 9-10 overall and 4-6 in league play traveling to Whitman and Whitworth College next weekend.  The Pioneers keep pace for a top spot in the NWC at 12-7 overall and 7-3 in conference.

Linfield 78, at Pacific Lutheran 66

Tacoma, Wash. -- Linfield weathered a furious second half Pacific Lutheran comeback to beat the host Lutes, 78-66, in a Northwest Conference men’s basketball game played Saturday night at Olson Auditorium. 

With the victory, the Wildcats improve to 5-4 in the conference and 12-6 overall. Pacific Lutheran is now 4-6 in the conference and 7-12 overall. 

Linfield expanded a 13-point halftime lead to 23 points, 69-46, on a pair of Spencer Crossland free throws with 8:22 left in the game. The Lutes went on a 10-0 run and were able to close their deficit to eight points on two occasions, the last time coming with 2:40 left on a layup by Neil Mendez. The Wildcats were able to hold on, and O.J. Gulley hit four free throws in the final 1:31 of the game to ice the victory. 

Linfield never trailed in the game after Nick Fusare hit a pair of free throws to give the visitors a 2-0 lead one minute into the contest. The Wildcats took a 15-6 lead at the 13:51 mark on Cornell Williams’ layup, but the Lutes responded with a 10-4 run to slice the deficit to 19-16 halfway through the opening half. Linfield was able to pull away to a 39-26 halftime margin. 

Gulley led the Wildcats with 19 points, followed by Jeff Dun with 14.

Hazen Hyland came off the bench to tally 16 points for the Lutes, while Jonathan Anderson added 13. Josh Davis had 11 points and 10 rebounds for PLU.

Whitworth 73, at George Fox 61

Newberg, Ore. -- Scoring the game’s final 11 points all on free throws, the 17th-ranked Whitworth College Pirates pulled away from upset-minded George Fox University in the last four-and-a-half minutes to defeat the Bruins on Homecoming night at George Fox 73-61 in Northwest Conference men’s basketball Saturday night at the Wheeler Sports Center.

The Bruins came out of the blocks blazing, racing out to a 9-0 lead on two free throws and a jumper by Bryan Wadlow and a 3-pointer and layup by Aaron Schmick.  Bryan Depew’s layup at the 17:12 mark finally got Whitworth on the boards, and the Pirates eventually took their first lead of the game, 14-13, at 11:37 on a free throw by Mike Larkin.  Chase William’s trey with 7:26 to go broke a 17-17 tie and gave the Pirates a lead they would not relinquish.  Williams hit another three with one second left for a 36-29 Whitworth halftime lead.

The Pirates took their biggest lead of the night on a dunk by Paul Hafford with 14:40 left, 50-39, before the Bruins climbed back into it.  A 22-12 run over the next 10 minutes brought the Bruins within one at 62-61 on two free throws by Schmick with 4:41 remaining.  The Bruins went scoreless the rest of the way, however, while the Pirates canned 11-12 from the charity stripe to preserve the hard-fought win.

Mark Gayman posted his 4th double-double of the season with 12 points and 10 rebounds for George Fox, while Wadlow finished with 12 points, Schmick 11, and Kenny Macy 10. 

Williams paced the Pirates with 26 points, including an 8-8 game from the line, Depew scored 21, and Kyle Jensen chipped in with 11.  Jensen also had 7 rebounds in leading the Pirates to a 35-27 margin on the boards.

George Fox fell to 6-12 overall and 1-9 in the conference, while Whitworth moved a half-game ahead of Willamette University for 1st place in the conference standings at 8-2 in the NWC, 17-2 overall.

The Bruins host Lewis & Clark College Friday at 8:00 p.m., while the Pirates also play Friday at 8:00 p.m., hosting Pacific Lutheran University.

At Pacific 75, Whitman 57

Forest Grove, Ore. -- Three Boxers scored 14 points each as Pacific snapped a three-game skid Saturday night, beating Whitman 75-57 in Northwest Conference men's basketball action at the Pacific Athletic Center.

Rahim Tufts, Paul Grock and Brandon Kilgour each hit for 14 as the Boxers outshot the Missionaries 53 percent (29-55) to 36 percent (16-45). Nick Kelsey scored 10. Scott Erickson led Whitman with 13 points in the losing effort. The Boxers outrebounded the Missionaries 36-27, led by six by both Tufts and Grock.

Erin Gram had nine assists, while Grock finished with four blocks.

Pacific (8-11, 5-5 NWC) controlled the pace from the start, going on a 10-8 run in the first four minutes. Three straight Whitman threes brought the lead to within one, but the Boxers broke the game open with 18-4 run, fueled by six points by Kilgour, to take a 28-13 lead with 4:46 left. The Boxers maintained momentum to take a 31-20 lead into the break.

Unlike the night before, Pacific maintained their momentum in the second half. Grock's lay-in at the 15:43 mark gave the Boxers a 17 point lead, and the Missionaries (6-13, 3-7 NWC) never came closer than 16 from that point on. Pacific took its biggest lead of 23 late in the contest, when two free throws by Branden Kawazoe made it 75-52.

Pacific will try to go above .500 in the Northwest Conference race next Saturday when they host George Fox in a 6:00 p.m. tile at the Pacific Athletic Center.