Feb. 7 NWC Men’s Basketball Wrap (stories provided by host SID office)

At Linfield 83, Willamette 71

McMinnville, Ore. -- Jeff Dunn's dazzling first-half shooting display carried Linfield to an 83-71 upset of Northwest Conference title contender Willamette Friday night. The Bearcats (13-5, 7-3 NWC), who entered the game even with NWC front-runner Whitworth in the loss column, put together a valiant second-half rally, only to come up short.

Dunn finished with a career-high 33 points on 12 of 18 shooting. The Wildcats' sophomore guard canned a school-record eight three-pointers, including his record-breaking seventh trey with 10 seconds to go in the first half, giving the Wildcats a 50-27 lead at the break. The old single-game record of six three-pointers was shared by Ryan Cruz and Rob Emerson.

The Wildcats (13-7, 6-5 NWC) remained unbeaten at Ted Wilson Gym, extending their home winning streak to 10 games over two seasons. The victory also avenged a lopsided 87-67 defeat to Willamette four weeks ago in Salem.

Linfield worked the ball inside repeatedly to Nick Fusare, who made 7 of 11 shots to finish with 19 points. O.J. Gulley netted 11 points and four steals while Matt Larson chipped in 10 points while adding five assists.

Linfield came out smoking, building a 12-2 lead in the game's first minutes. Dunn's three-pointer at 8:11 of the period gave him a dozen points and the Wildcats led 27-12. Larson's three-point bomb from the top of the arc doubled the Bearcats' output, 34-17, with five minutes left in the half.

Willamette began the second half on a tear of its own, capping an 11-3 run with Miles Sandgathe's two free throws. Ryan Hepp's jumper drew the Bearcats to within 11, 55-44, with 12:45 left. Hepp briefly brought the Bearcats back to single digits, 59-50, before Dunn hit his eighth three at the nine-minute mark.

Sandgathe's two technical-foul free throws drew Willamette to within 71-64 with three and a half minutes to play, but Gulley's tipin of a Fusare miss kept the Bearcats at arm's length. When Fusare dunked with 1:40 left, the Wildcats led 77-66. Baskets by Hepp and Sandgathe cut the margin to eight, 79-71, with 1:04 to play.

Sandgathe accounted for a team-high 20 points. Marques Johnson corralled a game-high 12 rebounds to go along with 13 points. Hepp scored 13 and passed out four assists.

Willamette hosts Lewis & Clark Saturday in another key NWC game. Linfield has seven days to prepare for Whitworth at home Feb. 14.

At Whitworth 66, Pacific Lutheran 50

Spokane, Wash. -- Whitworth College broke open a game that was close at half-time with a key 16-0 run and went on to defeat visiting Pacific Lutheran 66-50 in a Northwest Conference men's basketball game on Friday night in the Whitworth Fieldhouse.

The 14th-ranked Pirates (18-2 overall, 9-2 NWC) struggled against an aggressive Lute defense, making only 40.7% (22/54) of their shots from the field. But Whitworth made up for that on the boards, outrebounding the Lutes 43-28.

Bryan Depew led the Pirates with 23 points, while Chase Williams added 11 points and eight rebounds. Paul Hafford came off of the bench to score 11 points as well.

PLU (7-13 overall, 4-7 NWC) got 15 points from Jonathan Anderson and 14 points and six rebounds from Josh Davis.

The first half saw four ties and six lead changes before the Pirates went into the locker room with a 32-29 lead. Whitworth led by as many as eight points (23-15) before PLU went ahead 29-28 on a put back by Davis. But Whitworth scored the final four points of the half.

PLU opened the second half by scoring the first four points to retake the lead 33-32. But the Pirates then went on their 16-0 burst to take command 48-33. PLU was never closer than 13 points the rest of the way. The Pirates took their biggest lead, 63-43, when Kyle Jensen buried a three-pointer from the top of the key with 4:44 to play.

Whitworth, which swept the season series from PLU, will host Puget Sound on Saturday night. The Loggers handed the Pirates their first loss of the season in Tacoma on January 8th. PLU, looking to break a three-game losing streak, heads to Walla Walla to play at Whitman.

Lewis & Clark 80, at George Fox 49

Newberg, Ore. -- With a 43-26 advantage on the boards, including 11 offensive rebounds, the Lewis & Clark College Pioneers had more than enough muscle to overpower the smaller George Fox University Bruins 80-49 in a Northwest Conference men’s basketball match-up Friday night at the Wheeler Sports Center.

The Bruins held the edge in the early going, Dan Gugliotta’s jumper giving the home team a 13-9 lead with 11:46 left in the first half.  The Pios responded with a 13-0 run over the next three minutes, however, for a 22-13 lead.  Colin Oriard’s layup with 46 seconds left gave the visitors a 35-22 halftime lead.  The Pioneers never led by less than 13 the rest of the way, and twice took 34-point leads in the final two minutes before settling for the final margin.   

No one reached double figures in points for the Bruins, who shot 33.3% from the field (19-57) and were held to their lowest output of the season.  Mark Gayman, Aaron Schmick, and Kenny Macy had 9 points apiece to lead the Bruin scoring.  Gayman had 5 rebounds, and Trevor Person handed out 4 assists.

The Pios placed four in double digits, led by the NWC’s top scorer, Kristofer Speier, with 22.  Ryan Wells hit 5 threes and totaled 17 points, Oriard added 14, and Danny Winchester scored 11.  Oriard had 9 rebounds and Speier 8, while Winchester passed out 6 assists. The Pios hit 52.4% from the field (33-63).

George Fox fell to 7-13 overall and 1-10 in the conference, while Lewis & Clark won its 7th in a row, improving to 14-7 overall and 9-3 in the NWC

The Bruins visit Pacific University while Lewis & Clark travels to Willamette University Saturday (Feb. 8), both games at 8:00 p.m. following the women’s games at 6:00 p.m.

At Whitman 81, Puget Sound 71

Walla Walla, Wash. - Senior Mark Bouma had 18 points and junior Greg Caldwell had 16 points to lead the Whitman men's basketball team over the University of Puget Sound Friday, 81-71 in Walla Walla.

Whitman improved to 4-7 in conference, 7-13 overall. UPS fell to 4-7 in conference, 9-11 overall.

The Missionaries had four players scoring in double- figures and two other players with eight points apiece.

Greg Caldwell scored the first five Whitman points, sparking an 18-8 run to open the game. The rest of the first half was played back and forth by both sides, with the Loggers getting only as close as six, but Whitman unable to extend its lead past 11.

UPS clawed its way back to within 50-47 with 11:20 remaining, led by junior Matt Glynn's 16 second-half points. A pair of three- pointers by Caldwell and a jumper by junior Casey Nelson pushed the lead back to eight, and the Loggers never got closer than five the rest of the way.

Puget Sound’s Aubrey Shelton led all scorers in the game with 26 points. Matt Glynn added 18 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Mario Mendoza had seven points, 10 rebounds and a pair of assists.

Nelson led the Missionary bench with eight points as Whitman outscored the UPS bench, 17-9.

The Missionaries return to their home floor tomorrow night to take on Pacific Lutheran University at 8pm. Whitman fell to PLU earlier this season in Tacoma, 61-47.