Jan. 3 Men’s Basketball Wrap (Stories provided by host SID)
Pacific Lutheran 75, at Lewis & Clark 69
The Pioneers found themselves up 20-12 nine minutes into the first half, but PLU battled back to take a 29-27 halftime lead. The Pioneers regained the lead early in the second half - taking as much of a nine-point lead - only to have PLU forward Neil Mendez lead his team to victory. The senior scored 15 of his game high 20 points in the second half with a handful of key baskets. Jonathan Anderson also added 20 for the Lutes.
Kristofer Speier finished with 16 points for L&C, but the senior was hampered early by foul trouble. He racked up three early fouls, putting him on the bench most of the first half. His exit coincided with the Lutes comeback. Danny Winchester led L&C with 17 points - 15 coming from three pointers. Colin Oriard grabbed 12 boards.
At Whitworth 75, Pacific 57
Whitworth (10-0 overall, 1-0
Pacific (2-6, 0-1) got 14 points from Rahim Tufts and 12 points from Brandon Kilgour.
After Whitworth opened a 25-12 lead on a lay-up by
Pacific kept the game close early in the second half, pulling within 40-35 on a three-pointer by Erin Gram. But the Pirates went on a 16-0 run to open up a 56-35 advantage. The Boxers committed three straight turnovers leading to seven straight Whitworth points. Pacific was never closer than 16 points the rest of the way.
Whitworth will host
At Linfield 84, Puget Sound 80
Dunn finished with 16 points, leading a parade of five Wildcats in double figures. O.J. Gulley had 14 points and Cornell Williams added 13.
Matt Glynn totaled a game-high 20 points for the Loggers and Jermaine Perrien chipped in 12.
UPS built a 15-11 lead in the game's first 10 minutes, then pushed the margin
to 17 points , 32-15, on Chase Curtiss'
three-pointer with 5:32 left in the half. A 13-5 Linfield run, capped by Gulley's jumper with
Both teams got off to slow shooting starts, combining to miss 22 of the game's first 29 shots. As the Loggers found their groove, Linfield struggled from the field. The Wildcats were a woeful 3 of 21 from the field in the opening 17 minutes and 8 of 26 from the floor in the first half. The Wildcats hit 16 first-half free throws on 21 attempts to keep within striking distance.
Linfield came out with a sense of urgency to begin the second half. The Wildcats
connected on their first three shots and 10 of the first 14. Linfield was within
four points with
Technical-foul free throws by Matt Larson and a Williams jumper pushed the
'Cats in front by 10, 72-62. Glynn canned a jumper, then Perrien completed consecutive three-point plays and
suddenly the Loggers were one possession away from taking the lead. Matt Kitchen's
free throw made it 78-75, but UPS's
Matt Scarlett knotted the
score at 78 with a three-pointer from the coffin corner. Dunn hit a running
jumper with
At Whitman 86, George Fox 85
After freshman point guard Greg Ricker hit three of four free throws in a span of eight seconds, Whitman held what appeared to be a comfortable 84-78 lead with 36 seconds left to play. But the Bruins countered with a freshman guard of their own, Aaron Schmick, who drilled back-to-back 3-point baskets to forge an 84-84 deadlock with 10.6 seconds left.
As the final seconds ticked away, Whitman's Ricker took charge, drawing a shooting foul as drove the left side of the lane. With 2.9 seconds on the clock, Ricker made his first free throw before missing the second. A desperation 3-point shot by the Bruins failed to draw iron at the buzzer.
Ricker, who finished with 10 points, six assists and four rebounds, was one
of five Missionaries scoring in double figures. Casey Nelson, a 6-foot-5 junior
post, led Whitman with 15 points and eight rebounds. Junior wing Greg Caldwell
enjoyed his best night of the season, combining 13 points with seven boards.
Senior Scott Erickson also hit three treys for the Missionaries to finish with 11 points and five assists. Erik Kofler, a 6-foot-8 freshman post, was big off the bench, scoring 10 points.
Junior Jacob Pounds, who scored nine points, was Whitman's leading rebounder with 10 boards. Kyle Dalvit, also a junior, added eight points and four rebounds, while sophomore guard Mike Peterson was a factor with seven points, five boards and three rebounds.
Mark Gayman, a 6-foot-4 sophomore, paced the Bruins with a game-high 26 points. He also grabbed 12 rebounds. Also scoring in double figures for George Fox were Schmick with 14, Nate Tyler with 13 and Bryan Wadlow with 11.
The two teams battled on even terms through most of the first half. With Whitman leading 28-27, the Missionaries pieced together a 14-5 run to build a 42-32 cushion. Trevor Person nailed a 3-pointer at the first-half buzzer, however, to trim the Bruin deficit to 42-35 at the break.
With Gayman doing most of the damage, George Fox opened the second half with a 23-9 spurt to seize a 58-51 lead with just over 13 minutes to play. Whitman's Peterson and Pounds hit 3-pointers to narrow that gap, but a Schmick trey followed by Person's 2-pointer produced a 71-63 Bruin lead with 7:53 remaining.
After Pounds responded with another 3-pointer, Kofler
made two free throws and Nelson converted three of four. Pounds rebounded Nelson's
missed free throw, setting the stage for a
Whitman finally pulled even on the scoreboard when
The Bruins shot 55.6 percent from the floor in the second half and finished at 50.7 percent for the game. Whitman shot 47.8 percent from the field, but the Missionaries won the rebound battle by a wide 47-30 margin.
Whitman played it second straight game without leading scorer and rebounder
The Missionaries host Pacific at