Feb. 13 NWC Men’s Basketball Wrap (Stories provided by host SID)

Puget Sound 85, at Whitman 83

Walla Walla, Wash. -- The Whitman men's basketball team fell just short of upsetting No. 17 Puget Sound Friday night as it lost 85-83 in Walla Walla, Wash. The Missionaries dropped to 6-14 overall, 2-9 in Northwest Conference play. The Loggers won their sixth straight, and are 18-2, 10-1.

The Loggers Jeremy Cross scored the opening bucket, but Whitman responded with eight straight, spurred by two three-pointers from Greg Caldwell. Puget Sound rolled off eight straight of its own before the Missionaries regained the momentum and scored seven straight, taking a 15-10 lead. Whitman's largest lead off the half came at 19-12, but with 5:15 to play the Loggers regained the lead at 33-32. The two teams traded baskets for the rest of the half, and Puget Sound went into the locker room up 41-38. The Missionaries controlled the first 11 minutes of the second half, and took a 71-59 lead on a pair of Casey Nelson free-throws. Whitman held a 75-65 lead with just under six minutes to go, but the Loggers went on an 11-3 run over the next three minutes. With 1:50 left in the game, Zach McVey hit a jumper and Puget Sound regained the lead at 81-80. The Logger hit four free-throws in the final minute to hold on, winning 85-83.

McVey led all scorers with 20 points, knocking down nine of 11 from the field. Curtis Chase chipped in 11 wihile Cross finished with 10. The Loggers leading scorer, Matt Glynn, had seven points and eight assists.

Six Missionaries scored in double figures, led by Nelson with 16. Nelson went six of ten from the floor, grabbed six rebounds and made all four of his free-throws. Jake Pounds, Kyle Dalvit and Caldwell each scored 12 and had seven rebounds. Matt Airy also had 12 points, while Greg Ricker finished with 11 points and nine assists.

As a team the Missionaries shot 53.3 percent from the floor and grabbed 56 rebounds. The Loggers had just 33 boards, but forced Whitman into 34 turnovers.

The Missionaries play again at Sherwood Center on Saturday as they host Pacific Lutheran at 8 p.m. The Loggers travel to Spokane, Wash. to take on Whitworth.

At Willamette 75, George Fox 67

Salem, Ore. -- Miles Sandgathe scored 20 points leading four Bearcats in double figures as the Willamette University men’s basketball team defeated George Fox University 75-67 in a Northwest Conference game Friday night at the Cone Field House.

After the Bearcats took a 12-point halftime lead, the Bruins finally got within six points, 54-48, on a driving layup by Mark Gayman (8 points, 12 rebounds). But an acrobatic tip-in by Brennan Garrelts and four straight points by Sandgathe pushed the Bearcat lead back to 12 at the 7:46 mark.

The Bruins got back within eight before Harold Sublett Jr. hit his only hoop of the night, then corralled an offensive rebound and fed John Olinger for a basket and an 11-point Bearcat lead at the 3-minute mark.

In the first half, consecutive three-pointers by Sandgathe and eight points from reserve Josh Erickson turned an early 10-9 Bearcat deficit into a 38-22 lead at the 1:38 mark before George Fox scored the final four points of the half to close within 12.

John Olinger had 17 points for the Bearcats. Erickson and David Force each had 14. Sublett Jr. and Force led the Bearcats with five rebounds each. Sublett Jr. also added four assists.

For the Bruins, Aaron Scmick led the way with 21 points. Scott Szalay had 17 points and nine rebounds.

At Whitworth 70, Pacific Lutheran 47

Spokane, Wash. -- Whitworth College woke up in the second half to outscore visiting Pacific Lutheran University 42-23 on the way to a 70-47 win over the Lutes in a Northwest Conference men's basketball game on Friday night in the Whitworth Fieldhouse.

Bryan Depew scored 20 points and grabbed seven rebounds to lead the Pirates, who won their sixth straight game to improve to 15-5 overall and 8-3 in the NWC. John Gebbers added 14 points, 12 of which came in the second half. John Young scored 12 points on four three-pointers and Bryan Williams finished with 11 points.

Pacific Lutheran (4-16 overall, 1-10 NWC) was led by Jonathan Anderson's 10 points off of the bench. Kurt Oliver added eight points and Michael Jacobs led the Lutes with eight rebounds.

After Whitworth jumped to a 21-11 lead in the first half, PLU cut the margin to 25-24 on a lay-up by Sudon DeSuze. But Whitworth's Williams was fouled on a put-back basket as time expired and he made the free throw to give the Pirates a 28-24 lead at the break.

Whitworth opened a 42-28 lead with 13:25 to play on a lay-up by Depew before PLU pulled to within 42-35 on Scott Lowery's lay-in with 11:28 to go. However that would be as close as the Lutes would come. Whitworth responded with a 10-0 run and eventually led by as many as 26 points (70-44) with 1:39 to play.

The Pirates will host NWC-leading Puget Sound on Saturday night in the Fieldhouse. PLU, looking to break a nine-game losing streak, travels to Walla Walla to play Whitman.

At Linfield 76, Pacific 55

McMinnville, Ore. -- Sam Kreiger had the midas touch and the Linfield Wildcats put the icing on a season sweep of the Pacific Boxers Friday night in a 76-55 Northwest Conference men's basketball game at Ted Wilson Gym.

With their top scorer Joe Van Domelen out of the lineup, the Boxers appeared helpless in the paint against the rugged Kreiger. The 6-foot-8 forward hit 8 of 9 shots from the floor, finished with a season-high 17 points, and set the tone for the Wildcats' convincing home-floor win.

Blake Shelton added 11 points and John Broussard had 10 for the Wildcats, who won their third straight game. The Wildcats kept pace in the NWC race, improving to 8-3 in the conference, 13-7 overall.

Branden Kawazoe totaled a game-high 18 points for Pacific, which fell to 7-11 overall, 4-6 in conference play.

The Wildcats shot .667 from the field in the first half to open up a 40-31 lead at the break. Linfield lead by five, 19-14, following a jumper by Kreiger at the midway point of the period. The Boxers fought back, taking a momentary one-point lead four minutes later on Erin Gram's bucket. A 12-4 Linfield run to close the half, including three-point baskets from Shelton and Joe Neill staked the Wildcats to the early lead.

Linfield opened up a double-digit lead in the first minute of the second half and never looked back. The Wildcats led by as many as 24 with eight minutes left before Tim Dougherty's rebound and putback basket with just over four minutes left pulled the Boxers under 20 at 67-48. But it didn't take long for the Wildcats to recover, and soon they led by 23 again with less than one minute left.

Linfield played its second game without guard O.J. Gulley, who did not sign up for classes at the start of the spring semester. Instead, the three-time basketball all-star is opting to compete in football in the fall.